


connections in a coffee shop

by plaidnutmeg



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Character Death, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:34:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 44,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25695859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plaidnutmeg/pseuds/plaidnutmeg
Summary: "Shuichi stared blankly at the confused man in front of him, trying to remember why he walked over this far, before the small man cleared his throat. Shuichi looked around before focusing back on the person in front of him, who was now smirking like he’d been told a dirty secret.'Is there something you need, Emo Hat?'"In which Shuichi is a private investigator who only has one mystery he's solving - until he meets Kokichi Ouma.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Saihara Shuichi, Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, Oma Kokichi & Saihara Shuichi, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Previous Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 66
Kudos: 249
Collections: Quality Fics, Stuff I Like A Lot But Can't Bookmark Because I Only Bookmark Extremely Important Things





	1. a fishy case

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! instead of the obligatory phantom thief saiouma au i decided to do the obligatory coffee shop au. with a murder mystery. i have the whole murder mystery planned out so this will be plot driven but i fully intend to pack it with a ton of saiouma. this first chapter is the exposition, but i hope you stick with it and enjoy!

Shuichi Saihara wouldn’t consider himself the type of person who lives for a schedule, but if you were to ask the owner of Tojo’s Coffee, Kirumi Tojo, she would tell you that Shuichi is always at her coffee shop by 9am sharp. Today was no different. The chill of the early June breeze was juxtaposed with the soft warmth of the sun steadily rising in the sky. Shuichi placed a hand on his baseball cap and gripped his briefcase a little more as he entered the little glass door. The wall of heated air that smelled like coffee beans and sugar washed over him as he took a deep breath. 

“Hey Shuichi, are you the new door or are you gonna come order any time soon?” a friendly voiced called from behind the counter. Shuichi’s head snapped to a very amused-looking Kaede, standing at the register. 

He gave her a small smile as he made his way over and mumbled, “Sorry, I guess I got caught up in how nice it feels here.” Kaede laughed a little before responding.

“You’re always here though. You’d think a guy who comes in almost every single day would be used to the smell of coffee.” The side of Shuichi’s mouth tugged upwards as he rolled his eyes and said,

“I’ll take a medium coffee for now. Black, please.”

“You got it, Shu,” Kaede grinned and set off to make Shuichi’s order.

Shuichi, meanwhile, made his way to his regular booth. He took about 10 steps before seeing a boy with messy purple hair sitting… in his regular seat? Without realizing it, he continued walking until he was standing directly in front of the table where the aforementioned was sitting. Shuichi stared blankly at the confused man in front of him, trying to remember why he walked over this far, before the small man cleared his throat. Shuichi looked around before focusing back on the person in front of him, who was now smirking like he’d been told a dirty secret.

“Is there something you need, Emo Hat?” Shuichi blushed slightly at the nickname, still unsure why he was standing there. He coughed slightly and stuttered out an apology before turning around to find another table. 

He made it two steps before a voice behind him called out.

“Hey, wait! What’s your name? I’m Kokichi Ouma!” Shuichi turned around to see the man now standing up out of the booth with a big smile on his face.

“I’m, uh, Shuichi. Saihara. My name is Shuichi Saihara. Sorry. I’ll find somewhere else to sit.” Kokichi’s eyebrows knit together in clearly exaggerated concern,

“Oh no. Did I take your seat, Shumai?” 

Shuichi shook his head quickly and waved his hands, “No! No I didn’t mean it like that-” he paused, “‘Shumai’?” Kokichi giggled before sitting back down and patting the seat beside him and fluttering his eyelashes. 

“You could always sit with me~”

Shuichi took a few steps back and almost turned around before remembering he was, in fact, an active participant in this... exchange? Conversation? He put his hands up like he was trying to calm someone down (was he?),

“I’ll just sit in this booth right here. Sorry for bothering you.”

“Suit yourself, Shumai!”

Shuichi tried to ignore the nickname and began to set his things up in the next booth over. While pulling his computer out of his briefcase, Shuichi heard Kaede’s shoes clicking on the floor as she walked up to his table.

“Here’s your coffee Shuichi,” she turned to look at Kokichi’s booth, “Looks like Ouma-kun took your spot, huh. Guess you’ll just have to adapt! Detectives are good at that, right?” She gave a salute and a goofy smile.

Shuichi gave a small laugh at his friend’s antics, “I’m pretty sure detectives don’t have to adapt to much of anything. Also, I’m a private investigator. In some ways, I have to adapt even less than detectives do.”

A head of purple hair popped up over the divide between the booths. He looked back and forth from Kaede and Shuichi before gasping dramatically.

“Shumai here is a _detective?_ I better get out of here. Wouldn’t it just be terrible if my beloved found out that I was a Skid Row criminal?” Shuichi gave a start at the nickname and sat for a few seconds, trying to unpack everything the excitable boy had just said. Skid Row? Did he mean Death Row...?

He looked from Kaede to Kokichi before eloquently saying, “Uh.”

Kaede rolled her eyes at Kokichi and pulled him out of the booth he was sitting in, “Ouma-kun, you’re supposed to be _bussing tables_. What would Kirumi-san say if she saw you sitting back here?”

Kokichi bowed his head and began to sniffle, “I’m s-sorry Akamatsu-chan, my grandma died this morning and I was r-reading her will.” He looked up at Kaede with watery eyes and a quivering bottom lip.

Shuichi’s stomach dropped, and he turned to grab a napkin from his table for the tears before he heard Kokichi giggling. He whipped his head back around to see Kokichi smiling with no trace of tears. 

“I was lying!” he hopped out of the booth, “There’s just nobody here, so I have nothing to clean,” he whined.

Kaede raised her eyebrows at him in an unamused manner. Kokichi ducked his head with a smile and started towards the counter. Shuichi watched him saunter away before Kokichi turned back and winked directly at the detective. Shuichi’s face lit on fire while Kokichi spun around to skip the rest of the way to the counter. Shuichi went to put his password in his computer when he realized Kaede was still standing there. He turned his head reluctantly to see her giving him a knowing smirk.

Shuichi spluttered, “What is it?”

Kaede’s smile grew impossibly wider, “Oh, nothing,” she leaned down to whisper in Shuichi’s ear, “just, I’ve never seen you so interested in someone who took your normal spot.” Shuichi’s cheeks went scarlet and he looked at Kaede with wide eyes. 

“Who said I was _interested_? He’s just…”

“Interesting?” Kaede finished for him. Shumai ducked his head and reached for his hat, mumbling something about really needing to take a look at his case. Kaede straightened her apron before smiling sweetly.

“Sure thing, Shumai!” she declared before walking back to the counter.

Shuichi decided to ignore the mocking nickname in favor of pulling out the document he had been sent from the police department’s records the night before. 

A suicide victim, age 22. Shuichi shuddered. His age. He tried not to imagine one of his friends being the subject of the case. Something about the the way the police had ruled the case seemed off to him, however. He went over the details again. 

The victim was male, died in a college classroom, from blood loss. The case had been ruled a suicide from the razor blades in the trash can and matching cuts on the victim’s arms. The death happened in an unused classroom on a Saturday. The time of death was ruled to be a little before 8pm. 

There were only a few parts of the case Shuichi found strange, nevertheless they aroused his suspicion that the case had been ruled wrong. One, there were no belongings found with the victim whatsoever. Two, there was a distinct lack of fingerprints on the door. Almost as if someone had wiped the handle clean before leaving. Three: there were Danganronpa 1 reruns playing on the classroom TV when the body was found by others in the building. 

Shuichi, being a Danganronpa fan himself, sort of understood why someone would take their own life while watching Danganronpa, but at the same time, he couldn’t put it out of his mind. He felt that it might be the key to the case, if there was anything to be missed at all. Shuichi sighed with his face in his hands. This was going to be a long day of staring at the same set of words, wasn’t it?

***

The minute Kaede arrived behind the counter and out of Shuichi’s sight, she turned her head to see Kokichi giving her a dangerous smile. 

“Don’t call him that.”

Kaede hummed noncommittally. 

“I mean it, Akamatsu-chan,” Kaede looked up at Kokichi again to find him wearing a deathly serious expression as he spoke, “I might have to send my secret organization after you if you try to take the nickname I gave him as your own. Trust me, I wouldn’t hesitate.” Kaede looked at him incredulously for a few seconds before breaking into laughter. Kokichi’s murderous expression melted into his usual grin.

He chirped, “Just kidding! But seriously, don’t call him that.”

Kaede looked up at him again, mildly surprised, “May I ask why not?”

Kokichi seemed caught off guard, as if he wouldn’t have expected her to ask that question. He quickly recovered, putting his hands behind his head and following Kaede to the other side of the counter near the register, 

“Isn’t it obvious, Akamatsu-chan? I’m absolutely enamoured with Mr. Detective! I’ve decided to make him my bride.”

Kaede glanced at Shuichi, poring over a document. She looked back at Kokichi, who was busying himself with the cafe sink. Turning on the coffee grinder, she wondered how much of Kokichi’s lie was really the truth.

***

Shuichi had been wracking his brain for hints about Danganronpa 1 when Kokichi materialized next to him. Shuichi let out an undignified squeak and turned to face the purple-headed maniac.

“Hey Shumai! It’s been a while! Did you want something else to drink?” he gestured to the empty cup of coffee.

“Hi Ouma-kun. I was just looking at a case. Is there anything you’d suggest?” Shuichi rubbed his eyes. Kokichi looked thoughtful for a minute.

“How about this: I’ll go make a surprise drink for my beloved Saihara-chan, while he works on his case a little more, and when I get back, he can take a break and tell me about himself.” 

Shuichi rested his chin against his hands and decided, as ridiculous as Kokichi could be, he did have a point.

“That sounds okay,” he found himself saying. Kokichi beamed and practically bounced away to the counter. _Maybe today wouldn’t be such a drag._ Before he could dwell on what exactly he meant by that, Shuichi looked back down at the paper in his hands and began to read.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	2. aw carp, detective time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirumi enters the battle, Shuichi obsesses over Kokichi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! aha, i have posted the second chapter and therefore proven to myself that i WILL be continuing this fic long term. stay tuned :) i have a whole mystery aspect planned out so stay tuned hehe! comments and feedback are always much appreciated <3 enjoy

“So let me get this straight. You’re basically _rich_ , and you still come to work on your detective-y stuff in a tiny coffee shop every day just for the free wifi?” Shuichi huffed a laugh at Kokichi’s deadpan and shook his head before responding, 

“No, I have wifi at my apartment. I just… like the atmosphere here.” Kokichi raised his eyebrows and leaned back in the seat across from Shuichi. He nodded towards the chai tea he had brought over for Shuichi earlier.

“How is it?”

Shuichi blinked and glanced at the mug before giving Kokichi a small smile, “It’s very good. It’s been helping my focus with this particular case.” Kokichi made an exaggerated ‘victory’ fist pump before looking at the clock on the cafe wall.

“Alright Shumai, I should get back to work. I’d love to hear more about your exciting life of fighting crime later, though!” As he said this, he scribbled something onto a napkin and slid it across to Shuichi. Shuichi closed his eyes and laughed inwardly,

“I should get back to work as well. Thank you for the tea, Ouma-kun.”

Kokichi stuck his tongue out and winked before walking away. Shuichi turned back to his computer. Eventually, Shuichi resigned to emailing the police force to see if he could gather more information about the fingerprints around the crime scene. There was no doubt in his mind that this case had, in fact, been a murder, but with no evidence other than a clean door handle and a TV show, Shuichi had hit a dead end. His fingers paused over the keyboard before he began his email.

_Hello Kirigiri-san,_

_If it’s not too much trouble, I would like to review any and all information the police may have concerning fingerprints on the case I talked to you about a few days ago…_

***

Kokichi glanced back and forth from the clock to Shuichi reading something on his computer. The napkin lay where he had left it, clearly unnoticed. He hoped Shuichi didn’t throw it away by accident. After a few more moments he pushed himself up and stretched before starting to take his apron off. 

“How was your first day, then?” Kokichi looked over to see Kaede also removing her apron. 

“Hmm,” Kokichi pursed his lips in thought, “it definitely beats the American Mafia…” Kaede stared at him for a few seconds before rubbing her eyes.

“I’ll make sure to let Kirumi know you were a big help today. It might not look it, but it does get busy here sometimes.”

Kokichi grinned and nodded his thanks at Kaede before skipping out from behind the counter over to where Shuichi was now squinting at something on the computer with his head resting on his fist. Kokichi’s palms itched to swipe the stupid-looking hat from the detective’s head and mess up the blue-black hair, but he restrained himself. _Klepto tendencies much?_ Instead, he put his hands on the end of the table and leaned his face right into Shuichi’s. For the second time that day, Shuichi gave a start. This time he squawked as well. Kokichi crossed his arms and said,

“Is my face so ugly that my beloved turns into a chicken every time he sees it?” Shuichi, after regaining his composure, turned to the pouting Kokichi, 

“When you put your face that close I can’t even see anything. You’re not ugly, Ouma-kun.” He watched as Kokichi recovered from his faux-pout with a giggle.

“My shift is over now, so I’ll be going. I just wanted to come over and tell you to not break your brain before leaving today! Kaede said you work here reaaally late sometimes. I wouldn’t want to come back and see your cerebral cortex leaking out of your eyes,” Kokichi pulled a grotesque face and walked back and forth like a zombie for a few seconds until he stopped and turned to look at Shuichi.

“Shumai, are you laughing at me?” Kokichi asked with exaggerated incredulity. With trembling shoulders and a hand covering his mouth, Shuichi managed to shake his head. A smile slowly spread over Kokichi’s face. He snatched up the napkin he had left earlier and waved it in front of Shuichi’s face.

“You shouldn’t forget this either!” was all he said before dropping the napkin and skipping out of the shop. 

“What-” Shuichi grabbed the napkin as it fell and watched the cafe door close behind Kokichi, “... is it?” he finished. He looked back down at the napkin and pocketed it. _What the heck; maybe it’s his number._ Shuichi paused. Why would he keep it if it was Kokichi’s number? Shrugging off the thought, he took the boy in question’s advice and began to pack up his things. 

“Leaving already?” called a familiar voice. Shuichi turned to see Kirumi walking from the door. She was dressed in her usual white turtleneck and long black skirt.

“Ah, there wasn’t much I could do today anyway. I’ve kind of hit a dead end with this case,” he told her.

“Shuichi Saihara, hit a dead end? Must be a tough one,” Kirumi responded with her eyebrows raised. Shuichi smiled and shook his head slightly. He snapped his briefcase shut and stood up from the booth seat. Kirumi looked a little past him, then back at the place he just stood from,

“You changed where you usually sit.” It wasn’t a question, but Shuichi felt obligated to explain.

“Ah, one of the employees, Ouma-kun was sitting there when I arrived.”

“Ouma-kun? Should I have a talk with him for you?”

Shuichi backpedaled, “No, no he was fine! He actually was very helpful and,” Shuichi wracked his brain for the right word, “caring, actually. He didn’t do it in the most forward way, but he definitely made sure I took a breather and stopped before I _‘broke my brain’.”_ Kirumi’s mouth pulled into a tiny frown as she nodded,

“Ouma-kun has the potential to be a wonderful person if you choose to work towards getting to know him. That said, if he gives you any trouble, please let me know.”

“Thank you, Kirumi-san.” Shuichi smiled and tipped his hat as he walked out of the coffee shop. 

The overcast afternoon air nudged Shuichi along as he walked to the bus stop. He sat down on the bench and watched the people crossing the street and his thoughts drifted over conversations from the cafe.

_“Is there something you need, Emo Hat?”_

_“I’ve never seen you so_ interested _in someone..._ ”

_“You’re not ugly, Ouma-kun”_

Shuichi shook himself out of his head as the bus arrived. Sitting down on the far end of the bus, his thoughts again brought a certain face with purple hair to the front of his mind. He furrowed his eyebrows, wondering why he was thinking about Kokichi so much. 

What was it about Kokichi that made Shuichi want to treat him like a case to be solved? 

A suicide with aspects of a homicide with which he had hit an investigative wall, or an short, excitable man with jade colored eyes. Shuichi ignored his mind’s comment on Kokichi’s eyes and weighed the two in his mind.

Shuichi thought about it for a while. Or more, considering he was now standing in front of his apartment door. He grimaced. Kokichi probably wasn’t thinking at all about the quiet, socially awkward ‘detective’ that had been in the cafe all day. Still, Shuichi wanted to understand him. 

He was usually quite adept at reading people, but there was a certain way in which Kokichi acted that made Shuichi think. Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows while he closed his apartment door behind him; _when_ today, if at all, had he truly been able to tell what Kokichi was thinking? 

It was almost as if there was a mask hiding the small man’s entire face. Mindlessly, Shuichi reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. His hand brushed a piece of paper, and upon pulling it out he realized it was the napkin Kokichi had given him earlier. The detective unfolded it to see a phone number scribbled across it and the name _Kokichi Ouma_ written with a smiley face next to it. Shuichi stared at it, frozen. Kirumi’s words echoed in his mind.

_“Ouma-kun has the potential to be a wonderful person if you choose to work towards getting to know him.”_

Slowly, as if he couldn’t really believe he was doing it, Shuichi walked over to his desk and pulled out a blank journal from his stash. He uncapped a pen and wrote “Kokichi Ouma” across the front of the journal. He took some tape out of his desk drawer and taped the napkin to the first page. Opening the pen again, he wrote _‘Evidence A’_ above the napkin in the title margin.

Shuichi hesitated before closing the notebook. If he _were_ to put Kokichi’s number in his phone, Kokichi wouldn’t necessarily have to know…

Quickly, Shuichi unlocked his phone and tapped out the number into his contacts before closing the journal. Smiling slightly, he slid the notebook into his row of case notebooks, right next to the ( _prematurely_ ) closed suicide case. Shuichi didn’t typically pick up new cases while he already had one to work on, but he figured Kokichi wasn’t a regular case.

His phone dinged and Shuichi internally panicked. _Did Kokichi somehow see Shuichi put the contact in his phone?_ Shuichi watched his screen light up with an email notification. He blew a sigh of relief and laughed gently in self-deprecation at his anxiety. He tapped the email notification to open it.

_Hello Saihara-kun,_

_It’s nice to hear from you. Fingerprints were not a large focus of the case, considering it was investigated as a suicide, but I will send any documentation we have of fingerprints to you. Also, by request I will have Harukawa discuss the details of the documents with you, seeing as she was present for the investigation. I hope you are well._

_Warm regards,_

_Kyoko Kirigiri_

_Jabberwock PD_

Shuichi’s face pulled into a smile for the umpteenth time that day. It seemed that there was still hope for the original case. He glanced back at his shelf of journals. 

Kokichi Ouma and the “suicide” of a college-age man. Shuichi swore to himself he would solve them both. He hadn’t become a private investigator for nothing.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask
> 
> i keep listening to komahina spotify playlists while i write saiouma this is an issue,,, also i have an idea for a komahina fic that i keep squealing over :,)


	3. enough floundering, more analysis!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito and Maki join the battle. Kokichi is silly and flirty. Shuichi makes progress in one of his investigations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is me! nagito komaeda on the macbook! with a new chapter!  
> ok i have a lot of summer homework and my birthday was a couple days ago so i could've gotten this out faster but i Didn't. sorry :P  
> updates should be relatively regular, though! i'm liking how the story is turning out and i hope you are too!  
> anyway, enjoy!

The seat cushion across from Shuichi squealed as a wash of deep red and light purple clothing fell into it. Shuichi looked up from his computer to see his two close friends grinning back at him in the little cafe. More accurately: Kaito was smiling, and Maki was looking at Shuichi pleasantly. 

“Hey sidekick,” Kaito quipped, “fancy seeing you here!” 

“Hi Kaito, I’m glad to see you guys,” Shuichi chuckled.

Maki rolled her eyes and pulled a folder out of her bag. Shuichi moved his computer and coffee mug over to make room for the paper. 

“I don’t see why you’re so obsessed with this case. I mean, just two weeks ago it was clearly closed as a suicide. I would know,” Maki criticized, “I was there.” Shuichi made a face at her and took the folder. Cracking it open, he started looking through the papers for something: anything. Flicking through page after page, Shuichi’s eyes scanned the mumbo jumbo of the report until he found-

“Shumai, are you ignoring your date?” Shuichi’s head whipped up in surprise. Kokichi stood against the back of Shuichi’s chair and proceeded to cross his arms to rest on top of Shuichi’s head. He puffed out his cheeks and raised his eyebrows in response to Kaito’s bewildered expression.

“Ouma-kun, aren’t we both supposed to be working? Additionally, if this was any kind of date, I’d be third wheeling. Kaito and Maki here are already a couple.” Kaito looked away from Kokichi at this, and Maki blushed a deep shade of red. Shuichi looked back and forth at them in exasperation.

Kaito was the first to recover and the first to speak up, “Shuichi, who is this? And why is he calling you Shumai? That’s like, a bad rip-off of ‘Maki-Roll’.”

“Kaito, this is-”

“My name’s Kokichi Ouma!” Kokichi cut in, “I run a large scale sock business that is franchised across the planet and come to this coffee shop when I want to wind down. I saw Shumai here a couple weeks ago and now we’re engaged to be married in about three months. Who are you guys?” Kaito stared blankly at Kokichi for a solid 10 seconds before answering slowly,

“Uh… I’m Kaito Momota. I’m an astronaut in training. I’m also Shuichi’s friend from high school. One of his _only_ friends. Because Shuichi doesn’t really… y’know… _talk_ to people. Except for us.” 

Kokichi grinned and mussed up Shuichi’s hair before pushing himself off of the detective and skipping around to shake Kaito’s hand enthusiastically. Shuichi watched him while trying to fix his hair which had somehow stuck out every which way.

“I see! I see! You guys are my dearest Shumai’s bosom buddies. It’s a pleasure to _finally_ meet you, I’ve been hearing about you for ages!” Kaito pulled his hand out of Kokichi’s grip with a frown.

“So if you’re a businessman, why are you wearing a cafe uniform?” Maki accused levelly. Kokichi looked down in mock surprise then back up at Maki with a grin.

“Oops! Sorry…”

“Harukawa.”

“Sorry Harukawa-chan! I lied earlier. Nishishi! It’s as you said before; I work at Tojo’s Coffee!” Kokichi punctuated the last bit with a grand gesture to the rest of the cafe. Only after both Maki and Kaito were staring at Kokichi in disbelief and the barest trace of horror, Shuichi decided to clear his throat. Everyone turned to look at him.

“Uh, hey, sorry. I’m, uh,” Shuichi rubbed his eyes then put his hands flat on the table, “Kaito and Maki are here to go over some details of the case I’m currently working on. Ouma-kun we’re- we’re not _getting married_ -”

Kokichi let out an Oscar-worthy gasp.

“I met you yesterday. Not that I’m completely blocking off the idea off marriage, because obviously you never know, and when you first meet someone if you try to predict how you’re going to grow to know each other in the future it generally never ends well-” he paused, looking around the table. Kaito was staring at him like Shuichi was a kindergarten student trying to articulate that he had wet his pants, Maki was looking at him with a hard grimace, and Kokichi was just frozen except for the way he was trying (and failing) to bite down a grin. Shuichi swallowed and backpedaled,

“Okay, that’s not what I meant. All I’m trying to say is-” a hand fell on his shoulder and Shuichi looked to see Kaito giving him a pitying smile.

“Hey bro, I think you should just stop while you’re ahead.” Shuichi looked over to Maki.

“I agree with Kaito.” Maki monotoned. Shuichi exhaled in betrayal as he looked back and forth between his long-time friends. At this point, Kokichi’s shoulders began to shake in earnest as he laughed silently, causing the other three to look at him. When Kokichi noticed the attention was on him, he stopped laughing and looked between everyone with an entertained smile. 

“Why would Shuichi suddenly be friends with _you_ of all people?” Kaito suddenly asked. Shuichi watched Kokichi tense for a split second before beaming at Kaito and giving the most dramatic shrug Shuichi had ever seen. Kaito’s eyes flicked to Shuichi before looking back at Kokichi and blinking.

“Seriously dude. I know Shuichi here really well. He doesn’t just make friends. How do we know you’re not just some creepy-ass guy trying to get into his pants?”

It was Maki who cut in.

“Kaito, enough. Shuichi is allowed to get to know whoever he wants. We aren’t his keepers.” Shuichi looked at her with a grateful smile. “Not that I like this guy either. Just, it’s not my job to dictate who my 22-year-old friend spends his time with,” she added.

Shuichi ran his hands through his hair, the case file on the table having been forgotten a while ago. 

“I get it. Thank you Kaito, but like Maki said: I can choose my own friends. You guys aren’t the _only_ people I hang out with.”

Maki and Kaito nodded along until the last bit, at which point they both raised their eyebrows but said nothing.

“Besides, Kokichi and I met yesterday. I was working and we happened to talk for a little while,” Shuichi added.

“You looked like you were going to work yourself until you snapped in half. I figured the only way to get you to take a break was to talk,” Kokichi scoffed.

“Y’know what man? That is the most reasonable thing you’ve said this whole time,” Kaito exclaimed. He held his fist out to Kokichi and received a hesitant but enthusiastic bump from the shorter man. 

“Shuichi definitely has very little regard for his… health when it comes to work,” Maki agreed quietly. Shuichi looked at the three with a defeated expression.

“Is that why we’ve been talking instead of looking at the case file? I might _slightly_ overwork myself on other days,” Maki and Kokichi rolled their eyes, Kaito raised his eyebrows, and Shuichi resolutely ignored them in favor of plowing on, “but I haven’t gotten anything done today. So if you wouldn’t mind, Kokichi…”

Kokichi’s bottom lip began to tremble and his eyes overflowed with tears as he blubbered out an overdramatic apology. Shuichi paled and reached for the napkins while the tiny boy recovered instantly behind his back. Shuichi stopped pulling out napkins when he heard Maki and Kaito trying to laugh as quietly as possible. He looked at Kokichi, who was now beaming as if nothing had happened, then back at his friends with a look of pure betrayal.

“Man you- hah- you were so- Hahaha- you were so _worried_ ,” Kaito snickered.

“By all means, give the napkins to your boyfriend. Just don’t get tears on the case files. I need those,” Maki added. Shuichi huffed and pushed the napkins into Kokichi’s hands while gently (very firmly) pushing him away from the table. Shuichi glared at the other two before picking the case file back up and hiding behind it as he read. Kaito and Maki knew enough to stay quiet while he focused. 

[...handle on door showed no fingerprints. A pair of gloves were found in the pockets of the deceased. Two razor blades were discarded in the trash can underneath the desk at the scene…]

Shuichi’s shoulders slumped. The victim had been wearing gloves? Was it even cold enough for gloves at 8’o’clock? Maybe it wasn’t a murder… _Then again, the gloves may have been planted. If someone went far enough to stage a murder to look like a suicide, who’s to say they wouldn’t think of everything?_ Shuichi closed the file and rubbed his eyes. 

“Nothing?” Shuichi looked up at Maki, who was wearing a mild “I-told-you-so” expression. 

“Yeah, one of the leads I thought I had was just a dud. Maybe it really was a suicide case. Maybe my gut was wrong this time.”

Both Kaito and Maki frowned at this.

“Hey bro, maybe you’re just dealing with murder mystery brainrot?” Kaito suggested. Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows.

“What in the world is _brainrot?_ ” he asked cautiously.

“It’s like, when you think about something a ton, and it starts to eat away at your brain because you’re so focused on it. Maybe that’s the issue.” Shuichi met Kaito with his ever-confused stare.

Maki put her hand on top of Shuichi’s, “What Kaito is trying to say is: maybe you need to take a break? You’ve been working nonstop. Isn’t it possible that you took this case because you were looking for a mystery that isn’t even there?”

Shuichi worked his jaw then nodded minutely. 

“Hello hello! I’m back, but this time it’s to ask: would any of you like something to drink?” Kokichi’s voice bounced up to the three friends. Shuichi’s shoulders instinctively relaxed and he turned to smile at Kokichi. 

“I’ll have a chamomile tea, please,” he looked at Maki and Kaito, “do you guys want anything? It’s on me.”

Kaito put his hands up, “No, no, it’s okay man. I was just here for moral support. I actually have a class in a little bit, so I should get going.” He stood up, Maki doing the same. Shuichi also got up as Kaito walked over to pull him into a side-bro-hug. Maki awkwardly hugged Shuichi as well, before they both said their goodbyes and left the cafe. Shuichi slumped back down into his seat. A crash sounded from behind the counter, and before Shuichi could turn his head he heard Kaede yelling,

“Kokichi Ouma I swear to whatever deity there is above us, if you dye one more liquid in this kitchen purple I will see to it personally that Kirumi _executes_ you!” Shuichi watched as Kokichi plopped down in the chair across from Shuichi and rested his chin on his fist, smiling brightly.

“Kaede sounded- uh... angry…?” Shuichi started. Kokichi flapped his hands like he was shooing a bug away,

“Aw, I was just adding a little spice to the kitchen. It’s so drab in here sometimes. Just, brown. And _bleh._ ” He stuck his tongue out with the last word and lowered his chin.

 _Cute,_ Shuichi’s brain supplied. He smiled back at Kokichi for a moment before processing what he had just thought. His face reddened and he reached for his cap.

“I uh, was just going to go over the case a couple more times before going. Maybe I missed something-” Shuichi looked up when Kokichi literally blew a raspberry at him. He blinked in confusion and laughed slightly. Kokichi rolled his eyes and put both palms flat on the table, leaning forward until his chin was almost on the table. He looked up at Shuichi with bright eyes and said,

“I think you should go home,” Shuichi looked away and raised his hand before starting to say something, but Kokichi cut him off, “No, seriously Shumai! You need like, a huuuge break. I’ve known you for barely two days and I can already tell you are a wurk-uh-HOL-ic. I would know. I had a PhD in child development by the age of 14.” Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows and smiled.

“Ouma-kun, what does me _enjoying my line of work_ have to do with child development? Also, why are you working in a coffee shop if you have a PhD?”

Kokichi giggled, “Oh, I was lying about that. I’m working here because nowhere else would hire me!” Shuichi opened his mouth to ask a question about what Kokichi said, but was cut off again:

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you blatantly ignoring the other part of what I said. Mr. Detective needs a day off! Don’t you ever… I don’t know. Play video games?”

Shuichi shook his head.

“Where _do_ you like to go? Or do you just live off of coffee from here?”

The question, Shuichi knew, was sarcastic in nature, but it took him a second to really think. When was the last time he’d actually spent time outside of the cafe or his apartment? 

“Wow. I didn’t expect you to actually think about it! Momota and Harukawa weren’t joking when they said you were a hermit.”

Shuichi made a noise of protest, but knew that Kokichi spoke the truth. He began to fiddle with his napkin.

“I mean, I like going to Towa Park sometimes. I like the fountain there. It’s- I don’t know. Calming?” Shuichi finally said.

Kokichi’s smile took up the entire bottom half of his face. His eyes were practically sparkling. Shuichi couldn’t help but smile hesitantly back at the infectious excitement emanating from the smaller man. 

“Alright Shumai. Here’s the deal. This Saturday, you and I are going to go to that park. No cuts, no buts, no _fuckin’_ coconuts. You hear me? Or I will invoke the wrath of your two lovely friends I was introduced to earlier. Now: give me your number.”

Shuichi scratched the back of his neck for a second before slowly handing over his phone. _So, is this a date?_ He blanched. Wait, why would it be a date? Why would he think that at all?

“What?”

Shuichi looked up at Kokichi, who was staring at him with a carefully blank face. Shuichi really needed to stop thinking out loud.

“Sorry, bad joke.”

Kokichi paused, then just nodded with a smile that was a little too big if Shuichi really studied him. Interesting. His palms itched to take notes on the smaller boy’s behaviour but he didn’t want to dig himself into a deeper hole than he already had. The analysis would have to wait until he got home.

“Okay, I got your number,” Kokichi chirped, handing Shuichi’s phone back. “I’m flattered that my beloved already put in my number!” He added. Shuichi flushed immediately. He should’ve realized Kokichi would see his contacts if he was _going through his contacts_. If Shuichi was being honest with himself, he probably had no more than 20 in his phone.

“Yeah, I figured I’d just, y’know…” Shuichi gestured to his phone with his free hand. Kokichi just grinned, blew a kiss, then dropped his expression into a deathly serious one. 

“You, Mr. Detective, are going to leave this cafe and go get some rest. Okay? You have bags under your eyes. Seriously.”

Shuichi scoffed and ran his fingers under his eyes, “I don’t have eyebags. It’s my eyeliner. It’s probably smudged from how many times I rubbed my eyes today.” Kokichi made an ‘O’ with his mouth before saying,

“Well, in any case, you give off tired-overworked vibes, so you should go home and sleep. And get ready for our date on Saturday.”

Shuichi reddened.

“Sorry, what was that?” he squeaked. Kokichi blinked innocently.

“I said to get ready for our big day on Saturday, Shumai!” With this, Kokichi scooted his chair back noisily, and skipped over to the counter.

Shuichi sat back in his chair and exhaled. Okay. So far in his investigation of Kokichi Ouma: he had a pseudo-date with the pathological liar who kind of gave him butterflies. Perfect. Yes. Saturday was going to be lovely.

As he packed up his things and left the cafe he thought more about his exchanges with Kokichi, Kaito, and Maki. His friends had seemed to like Kokichi enough. Maybe he’d finally made another real friend.

Shuichi just hoped he didn’t embarrass himself on Saturday.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally listened to saiouma playlist while writing. comments are always appreciated :cool glasses emoji guy:  
> \-----  
> My tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> My ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	4. two gays and a pond full of fish.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi and Kokichi go on their outing. More progress is made on the case. Shuichi likes fish. Neither of them like the rain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aye i'm back homies,, uhhh so basically this is gonna be about 19 chapters at LEAST, so stay tuned for that.
> 
> in this chapter i wanted to establish a bit of characterization and backstory in this chapter so enjoy 2.6k words of crack and fluffy idiocy. 
> 
> ALSO!!! there's a reference photo at the bottom of the fic for kokichi's outfit and kinda what i was trying to imply. it's not exactly accurate since it's a picture from google but you can take creative license with my descriptions.
> 
> n e way enjoy <3

Shuichi adjusted his button-up in the mirror for the third time that morning. Normally it took him less than 10 minutes to get fully dressed, but apparently today was not one of those days. Deciding that his charcoal shirt was well tucked into his black denim jeans, he started to roll up the sleeves to his elbows. He thought it might add a little bit of flair. Not that Shuichi’s fashion sense had ever been anything short of abysmal. He looped his black leather belt into his pants and buckled it. Shuichi considered practicing his smile in the mirror for all of 3 seconds before walking over to check his phone. The messages from Kokichi were static on the screen.

_[18:21] Kokichi Ouma: hey shumai!!!!!!!! lets meet at 3 pm on saturday, okie?_

_[18:21] Kokichi Ouma: am excited :))))))))_

Shuichi glanced the clock on his phone; he had about 15 minutes before he should be at the park. Considering it took less than 10 minutes to walk to the park, Shuichi decided to leave and get there a little early. He grabbed his umbrella off the hook before leaving, just in case. ‘You can never be too prepared’ was his general philosophy.

The air was very crisp, and it left little chills running down Shuichi’s forearms as he closed and locked his apartment door behind him. The sun hid behind the clouds and the sky was a soft shade of grey. Shuichi pulled his hat slightly down over his face in an attempt to cover his slight smile. Objectively the weather was mediocre, but Shuichi quite like quiet, overcast days. The pavement complimented his shoes with dull clicks as he made his way towards the park entrance. When he arrived he immediately spotted a bouncing head of purple hair jumping up from a park bench and waving. Shuichi’s eyes widened and swept down Kokichi’s outfit. 

He was wearing a white turtleneck underneath oversized checkered overalls and black platform boots. About a four inch strip of the each of the pant legs on his overalls that should have been covering his thighs were cut off and replaced with several thin chains sewn around the edge of the cuts. There were chains around his neck, and hanging through the piercings in his ears, and-

Kokichi was now standing right in front of Shuichi. Shuichi blinked, hard. And to think he had been stressing over the winged eyeliner he put on.

Kokichi worried his bottom lip between his teeth with smiling eyes like he was waiting for Shuichi to say something. Shuichi opened his mouth before his eyes settled on the subtle purple eye shadow Kokichi was wearing. In some other reality, Shuichi died. A spear through his torso, a knife through his hand, a gag over his mouth- alright, okay. He was being a little dramatic.

“You look nice,” he managed after another few painful moments. Kokichi raised his eyebrows and clicked his tongue.

“You eye-fucked me for a whole minute at _that’s_ all you can manage?” Kokichi teased. Shuichi’s brain came to a screeching halt as he stared back at Kokichi before his face bloomed crimson.

When Shuichi didn’t respond, Kokichi tilted his head to the side and put his hands on his hips.

“Everything okay, Shumai? You know I was only joking, riiight?”

Shuichi recovered and stuttered out an apology before saying,

“Please, let’s just- What did you want to do today?”

Kokichi cracked a smile at that and made a hyperbolic rake of his eyes up and down Shuichi’s body.

“Well, _Emo Hat_ , I can think of a few things~” he winked and gave his signature laugh before turning towards the bench and gesturing for Shuichi to follow him. Shuichi stood, for the second time in less than 5 minutes, rooted to the spot in embarrassment and shock. He lifted his hat up with his left hand to run his right through his hair and sighed.

This was going to be a long day.

***

As it turned out, Kokichi _did_ have things planned. This came as a relief to Shuichi, who may or may not have been wondering what they would actually do in a park. At some point Kokichi had grabbed Shuichi’s wrist because he deemed Shuichi’s walking speed “way too damn slow” and begun to drag the taller boy through a garden with a little paved pathway. Shuichi’s eyes drifted along the groups of flowers and trees and bushes.

For somebody who lived so close to the park, he realized how little he had actually explored. Which reminded him: his eyes trailed up Kokichi’s arm to the back of the boy’s head. When had Kokichi come here? He didn’t mention knowing his way around so well… 

The pair came to an abrupt halt. Kokichi let go of his hand and turned to watch Shuichi. Shuichi’s breath caught in his chest as he looked at the scene before him. A small porch with a roof covered in grass stood in the middle of a space surrounded by trees and bushes and tall grass. A stream of water flowed down a small, three layered rock structure. The path tapered off into two small paved ways as it led up to the two open doorways of the porch. The world had suddenly gone quiet, save for the tinkling laugh of the waterfall and the cool chirps of birds hidden in the bright green foliage. 

A hand gently shut Shuichi’s mouth and he blinked out of his reverie to find Kokichi looking at him with a _very_ smug look on his face.

“I’m gonna guess that you didn’t even know this place existed, huh?” Kokichi said with smiling words. Shuichi swallowed and shook his head. He started to make his way toward the porch, careful not to step on any plants or stray from the small path.

  
  


Following close behind Shuichi, Kokichi’s chest bloomed with excitement. _He liked it. He liked it! He_ likes _it._ Kokichi allowed himself a giggle as Shuichi reached a hand down to help Kokichi up onto the porch. He watched as Shuichi walked over to look at the pond above the waterfall. Shuichi’s shoulders and chest raised as he took a surprised breath. 

“Ouma-kun, look! There are fish in the pond!” Shuichi looked back at Kokichi with sparkling eyes. With the detective’s bright gaze turned on him, Kokichi felt like he was sitting on top of the world and swinging his legs off the edge. He stared back with wide eyes and tried to take deep breaths. After a moment, Shuichi looked back and leaned over the wooden railing of the porch. Kokichi could practically feel the detective’s smile as he walked over to stand beside Shuichi. Kokichi watched Shuichi point to one of the fish.

“Look, Ouma-kun, that one looks like your hair,” Shuichi said in a voice laced with excitement. Kokichi’s smile grew and he found himself watching the detective instead of the fish that were being pointed out to him. 

“What do you think that one’s name is?” Shuichi asked, turning to look at Kokichi. Kokichi blushed at the eye contact. _It’s just stupid fucking eye contact. Get it together, Kokichi._

“Um, well-” Kokichi looked down at the fish Shuichi was pointing at. It was charcoal colored with a few white stripes around the top. 

Kokichi giggled, “It kinda looks like your emo hat, Emo Hat.” He watched Shuichi pull the cap in question down onto his face to cover his eyes. 

Kokichi opened his mouth to say something when it promptly began pouring rain. Shuichi giggled silently. Kokichi blinked. 

_Well, okay then._

“It’s a good thing I brought an umbrella,” Shuichi said quietly, (or maybe at a normal volume: it was hard to tell over the rain.) “We should go somewhere with a proper roof before we get soaked.”

“Mr. Detective can’t handle a little water?” Kokichi said, trying to calm his chattering teeth. He felt Shuichi’s amused gaze wander down his overalls. Shuichi smiled that same damn smile that made Kokichi’s heart jump.

“So am I to take it that you’re shaking with your knees together because you’re scared? Or maybe you have to use the bathroom?” Shuichi asked, _like a smartass_ , Kokichi’s brain added. Kokichi grit his teeth.

“My apartment is actually right across the street over here. We can just go back there,” he glanced up, hoping to get a read on Shuichi but unable to see his face because of that _stupid fucking hat._ He was gonna steal that thing and burn it one day. Shuichi had really nice eyes. “I mean, if you want. Totally up to you, Shumai!”

Shuichi nodded and grabbed the umbrella he had put against the wall of the porch. _Of course Shuichi had brought an umbrella. Mother of hell._ Kokichi pressed close to Shuichi while they walked under the umbrella towards the street.

“Saihara-chan, you’re literally a furnace. Holy shit,” Kokichi laughed while they walked, “you could get paid to cuddle people, I’ll bet.”

Shuichi coughed lightly, “Nobody has really ever been… interested.” Kokichi stopped walking, and Shuichi barely stopped in time to keep the umbrella over the smaller boy. For a second it was just them standing in a torrent of rain. _And Shuichi was looking at Kokichi with those intuitive-ass eyes._

“You’re joking, right? I’m sure Akamatsu-chan would cuddle with you in a _heartbeat_ ,” Kokichi said incredulously, “and I’m betting she’s not the only one.”

Shuichi looked uncomfortable for a second before responding quietly.

“Well actually, Kaede and I dated for a while. We’re still pretty close.”

Kokichi’s mind immediately brought up images of Kaede whispering in Shuichi’s ear at the cafe and Shuichi blushing. Something hot and ugly shot through his veins, but he put on a bright smile.

“Aw, really? What happened to you guys?” he asked, half for the sake of conversation and half because he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he didn’t know the full story _now_. 

Shuichi reached for his hat with his free hand and looked away from Kokichi.

“She’s um. She’s a lesbian,” came the tiny mumble. Kokichi gaped for a second before laughing, clear and outright. 

“Hah? Why’d you say it like that? Do you think you turned her gay or something? Wow Shumai, are you that bad in be-”

“Shut up Ouma-kun. We never- She and I,” Shuichi took an exasperated breath, “Neither of us happen to play for each other’s teams. It wasn’t just her.”

“Riiight. I should’ve known from the wings. No straight man, Shumai. No straight man,” Kokichi said with mock seriousness. Shuichi blinked for a moment before slowly (and exaggeratedly, the fucker. Looks like Kokichi’s sarcasm was starting to rub off on him. This fed Kokichi’s ego slightly. A lot.) looking up and down Kokichi’s ensemble for what seemed like the 10th time that day. After he finished, he met Kokichi’s eyes and raised his eyebrows.

“I’m straight, Shumai. Mmmmmmm, _pussy_ . I’ll have you know that I happen to _love_ women. Tits. Badonkers,”

Shuichi rolled his eyes and started walking with the umbrella. Kokichi continued spouting off nicknames while he tried to stay underneath Shuichi’s umbrella. 

Upon reaching the stoplight, and Kokichi having finally run out of vocabulary words (he’d have to look up more later), his teeth had begun to chatter again and he huddled against Shuichi while they waited for the walk signal.

“My apartment is in that complex right there,” he said through full-body shivers. Shuichi looked at him in surprise.

“Really? Mine too. When you said your apartment was across the street I guess I didn’t realize you meant _right_ across. I’ve never seen you around?”

Kokichi huffed out a little laugh, “I moved in recently, but yeah, I didn’t realize you lived there either. It’s a pretty big complex, to be honest.”

Shuichi nodded in agreement.

By the time the two arrived at Kokichi’s apartment, the rain had progressed to a full storm. Kokichi opened his front door and Shuichi gave a sigh of relief at the heat in the building. The apartment was relatively bare, save for a few boxes lying around and the picture frames along the walls. 

Shuichi looked at the smiling faces while Kokichi opened the door to a closet. One of the photos grabbed Shuichi’s attention. Kokichi stood with his arm around a girl with long brown pigtails, and next to them stood a couple other people. The girl was holding a clown mask out to the camera, and Kokichi was showing a peace sign.

“Oh, those are my royal subjects.”

Shuichi looked back at Kokichi, who was pulling an oversized hoodie onto his body. The smaller boy held out a dark jumper to Shuichi. Shuichi raised his eyebrows in question but took it anyway.

“Thank you. What’s with the clown masks? And who’s that girl?”

Kokichi’s smile fell quite a bit.

“Ah, I usually don’t like talking about this but,” he looked up at Shuichi with soft eyes, “I guess I trust you. Maybe that’s stupid.” Shuichi was saved from trying to come up with a response when Kokichi continued.

“Those are the people I was close with in high school. We were in a gang of sorts. We weren’t like, bad guys, but we pulled some pretty awesome pranks on people. The girl is Dakota. She was basically my second in command.”

Shuichi nodded. His eyes were fixed on the way Kokichi looked at the photograph. Shuichi could see the regret on his face. Shuichi’s fingers itched to write these new pieces of evidence down. Slowly, slowly, he was starting to learn who Kokichi Ouma really was.

“So what happened? Are you all still in touch?”

Kokichi snapped out of his trance and looked at Shuichi while scratching his head,

“Ah, no. Dakota ran off with her girlfriend and we never, erm, saw her again,” he gave a strained laugh, “still think about her now and then, though!”

Shuichi’s eyebrows drew together and he looked back at the picture. Maybe he was just jealous of that girl for knowing Kokichi so well, but that clown mask really unnerved him.

“Are you gonna wear the sweater or what, Saihara-chan?” Kokichi asked as he walked towards the living room. Shuichi looked down at the jumper in his hands and decided it was all or nothing. The first thing he noticed when it was on all the way was that Kokichi really liked oversized clothing. The thing was pretty big on _Shuichi_ , and he was definitely not a short guy. The second thing he noticed is that it smelled exactly like Kokichi. This, of course, made him blush.

“Come on, Emo Hat. Do you want to play video games? Or we can watch a movie. It’s up to you!”

Shuichi made his way over to the couch and sat down.

“A movie sounds nice, actually,” he said thoughtfully.

“Alrighty, aphrodite! We’re gonna watch ‘Catch Me If You Can’,” Kokichi chirped. Shuichi smiled. It was nice to know that they shared a taste in movies. 

When Frank called Hanratty on Christmas Eve the first time, Shuichi looked over at Kokichi. The smaller boy was watching the screen, enraptured. He must have seen the movie countless times, however, as he was mouthing the words while the characters said them onscreen. Shuichi smiled at the cute scene. _Rewatches movies. Most likely for comfort. He likes to know what is going to happen next. He likes to be in control_. 

Shuichi’s brain ran wild until he noticed Kokichi looking back at him. Instead of saying anything witty, though, Kokichi gave Shuichi a soft, open smile before looking back at the screen, and damn if Shuichi’s heart skipped a beat. Progress. At least he was making progress on one of his cases.

He looked back at the screen as Hanratty put the telephone down and laughed in victory.

* * *

kichi's overalls inspo (except his are cooler and he made them himself):

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shuichi investigating kokichi. what will he find out next? maybe he'll realize how whipped he already is. maybe he's too dense for that. who knows.  
> \----  
> My tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> My ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	5. miu's fishy $^@*# -kokichi ouma, probably

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi is back in the cafe and he has a new case! Kaede feeds into Kokichi's stupid pranks. Kokichi is a kleptomaniac. A familiar foul-mouth joins the battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO!!!! wow? a chapter? another chapter? and it's only been like 24 hours? nice.  
> i have nothing else to say  
> enjoy <3

The next time Shuichi walked into the coffee shop, Kokichi had convinced Kaede to pretend that they had forgotten who Shuichi was completely.

“I was barely gone for two weeks. Come on, guys,” was Shuichi’s desperate rebuttal when Kaede (purposefully) misspelled his name on the cup after asking what it was three times. Kaede broke character and began laughing hysterically while Kokichi skipped out from behind the counter to flick Shuichi on the forehead. 

“You went home on Saturday saying you’d see me on Monday. What happened? You didn’t even stay for dinner... Shumai, did I _drive you away?_ ” Kokichi asked dramatically. Shuichi shook his head and pushed Kokichi off of him slightly.

“I had to go up north to work with my uncle on a few cases. He needed my help,” Shuichi protested, “and I stayed at your house for a few hours, but I didn’t want to intrude on dinner. It’s nothing against you, Ouma-kun.”

Kokichi continued to pout as he slunk back behind the counter while Shuichi walked over to his usual booth. He sighed in contentment while pulling out his computer.

“You don’t usually spend much time with your uncle. What happened?” Kaede’s voice drifted to Shuichi as she walked up to where he was sitting.

“Ah, I asked for his advice on a case and, well, you know him. He made it seem like we hadn’t seen each other in years and basically guilted me into spending some time up at his place,” Shuichi said, rubbing his eyes.

“Wow, you needed your uncle’s help? That must have been a real tricky case. Did you solve it?” Kaede said while she wiped her hands off on the towel in her apron.

“Yeah, I guess I never got to tell you. I totally hit a wall with it,” Shuichi considered for a moment before continuing, “It _was_ a case that the police originally closed. I guess it was kind of like Kaito said. I was looking for a mystery that wasn’t really there.”

Kaede made a tiny frown but nodded.

“Anyway, my uncle had me work on some simple cases to get back on track, so I’m actually kind of glad I ended up going,” Shuichi sighed.

“Well, I’m glad to see you back, Shuichi. It was so _quiet_ without you here,” Kaede teased. 

Shuichi rolled his eyes while Kaede hugged him, “I’m happy to be here too, Kaede.” Kaede flashed up a peace sign before she walked over to another table to start cleaning.

Shuichi pulled up the digital case files on his computer. He lifted his cap to run his other hand through his hair while he scanned the summary of the file.

A female, age 21, found dead in her apartment. She was left bound to a chair with industrial-grade rope, wounded in the head, and stabbed 6 times in the chest. The weapon of choice seemed to be the kitchen knife that was wiped clean with hydrogen peroxide and replaced in the silverware drawer. The knife wounds were found to be the fatal in the autopsy. The time of dea-

“Shu-shu-shumaiii!!!” came the joyous titter of a certain purple-haired boy. Shuichi yawned and took a defeated sip from his iced coffee as Kokichi bounced over to his table. 

“Kaede told me all about how you were down in the dumpsters and your uncle had to pull you out of some funk. You could’ve called _me_ , yknow!” Shuichi rolled his eyes and saved the document on his computer before turning to Kokichi.

“And what would you have suggested to ‘pull me out of a funk’?” Shuichi asked facetiously. Kokichi pursed his lips and squinted furtively to the side.

“Some Panta, a big blanket, and Red Dead Redemption 2 on the Xbox. And the entire night to ourselves,” he said with wide, serious eyes. Shuichi laughed openly. Kokichi looked back at the detective with a twinkling expression and Shuichi barely had time to react before his hat was swiped off his head. Shuichi blinked in surprise before reaching to grab his hat back.

“Hey, Ouma-kun come on-”

A troublesome grin split across Kokichi’s face. He turned his back to Shuichi and ducked his chin to pull the hat snug on his head. Shuichi exhaled in exasperation and looked away from Kokichi towards his computer. Before he could re-focus on the investigation notes though, Kokichi tapped his shoulder and posed dramatically, batting his eyelashes.

“Isn’t it kind of hypocritical to wear the same hat you make fun of me for owning?” Shuichi said, amused.

“Nope! If I wear this long enough, I’ll end up looking in a mirror at home and it’ll remind me to burn it!” Kokichi chirped. Shuichi pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head with a laugh.

“Alright, I’m not gonna let you keep my hat,” he turned to Kokichi, “so you can give it back…” Shuichi looked left, right, and towards the counter. Kokichi was nowhere to be seen. 

“...now.” 

After a few moments of thinking, Shuichi decided that Kokichi had enough of a conscious not to burn Shuichi’s hat, so he left the matter alone in favor of turning back to his computer.

The time of death was just before 8pm. The apartment had been ‘found in a state that revealed a previous struggle’. _So in other words, the apartment was absolutely ransacked._ There were no fingerprints to be found anywhere, and the television was on when the police arrived.

Shuichi forced his shoulders to relax. This wasn’t necessarily anything _crazy_ ; Shuichi had dealt with far worse cases, but he seemed to take the deaths personally every time there was a murder. He looked in the miscellaneous comments column of the report to make sure he hadn’t missed any seemingly superfluous details before he started piecing things together.

[Cosplay mask found in an open drawer. Mask held DNA that did not match any of the suspects.]

Shuichi hummed. _Cosplay? Why was that so unnerving?_ He shrugged off the chills and reached for his hat (which actually happened to be gone, thanks to Mr. Fish-Hair) Shuichi frowned. Certain parts of the report were very vague. 

Shuichi figured he’d have to pester Kyoko again for a rundown of the case. He knew a person who had helped perform the autopsy on this particular case, so it was possible he would be able to set up a date to discuss it with them. 

Suddenly, the cafe door slammed open and a very messy-looking blonde woman dressed in a pale pink jumpsuit and machinery goggles walked inside the cafe. Shuichi couldn’t help but observe her as she walked up to the counter. There were maybe three other patrons inside the cafe, so it was quite easy to hear what the woman was saying.

“Hey Kokichi, what the fuck’s on the menu for today, you purple pixy stick?” Shuichi bit down a laugh at her aggressively fond tone. He watched Kokichi emerge from the kitchen. The liar’s face went through every stage of grief in the span of two seconds before settling on unbridled excitement. Clearly, this woman was somebody he knew well.

“Miu!!!!!!!” he nearly squealed, “what the literal hell are you doing at my workplace?”

‘Miu’ laughed like a hyena then fixed him with a death stare.

“Isn’t it obvious? I want a coffee, twink.”

Kokichi smirked and tipped his hat at Miu. Shuichi blinked. Rewind. Kokichi smirked and tipped _Shuichi’s_ hat at Miu. Not that she knew it was Shuichi’s hat. She probably hadn’t even noticed the detective discreetly watching the exchange. Nevertheless, a possessive thrill ran down Shuichi’s spine at the sight of Kokichi wearing his hat like it was natural. Shuichi wondered idly if the hat would smell like Kokichi by the time he got it back. Snapping back to reality, he made eye contact with the woman as she walked towards his booth. Shuichi paused. Not his booth necessarily. Just, remarkably close to him. Also, she was _definitely_ looking at him now.

“See something you like, virgin?”

Shuichi paled and quickly looked back at his computer. _Some mouth_.

Kokichi’s voice called out to Miu, “Hey Ms. Pervert, leave Saihara-chan alone!” Miu gave the closest thing to a girlish giggle she looked like she could manage and leaned over the divide between hers and Shuichi’s booths.

“So, how many dates did it take to get Kokichi into bed with you?” she asked, just loud enough for Kokichi to hear. Shuichi shifted uncomfortably and opened his mouth to answer before he was cut off by Kokichi.

“Shut up you whore, I told ya to leave him alone. Here’s your coffee.” Miu nodded in thanks then said,

“I’m just having a little fun with emo boytoy over here. You called him Saihara?”

Shuichi cleared his throat.

“Ah, yes. Hi, my name is Shuichi Saihara,” he stuttered out under Miu’s piercing stare. Miu looked him up and down exaggeratedly (and as well as possible while leaning over the divide of a cafe booth). 

“Oh for the love of fuck, I said leave him _alone_ , Miu,” Kokichi whined. Shuichi’s eyes widened at the pair’s lack of filter. 

“Shumai, this is Iruma Miu. She’s known me since like, I don’t know. Elementary school? But she’s a pervert. You should run away and stay away while you have the chance,” teased Kokichi. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Iruma-kun,” Shuichi said pleasantly. He checked his watch before deciding he actually had an excuse to avoid this uncomfortable encounter. Or, in Kokichi’s words, he had a reason to ‘run away and stay away’. Shuichi started to close his computer and put his things away when Kokichi circled around to the side of his booth.

“What? Shumai, you just got back today and you’re leaving _already?_ ” Kokichi said as tears began to fill his eyes.

 _I’m not falling for the same trick three times in a row_. Shuichi zipped up his bag before responding:

“Sorry Ouma-kun, I have a few things to do around town, then I figured I’d go home to do some thinking on the case I just started.” Kokichi’s eyes dried and he pulled his mouth into a big frown. 

“What’s the case about?” Kokichi asked.

“It’s a definitive murder this time. The police just don’t have many leads. I’m thinking it should be pretty simple, but there’s a lot of evidence this time. I just have to sort through what will help me and what is just extra garbage,” Shuichi responded, punctuating the last bit with a stretch.

“Well, I think you should make sure you don’t rule a good piece of evidence out as ‘garbage’. You never know: maybe that’s what the culprit wants you to do!” Kokichi exclaimed with big eyes. Shuichi laughed.

“Yeah. Thanks, Ouma-kun,” he said lightly. Kokichi moved aside to let him out of the booth, and Shuichi waved goodbye to him and Kaede before walking out of the cafe.

Stab wounds, running televisions, and ransacked apartments swam in Shuichi’s subconscious as he mulled over the information from the new case. He figured he’d put some of his things away at home before making his way to the police department to gather more from the investigation.

Shuichi got all the way to his front door before he realized absently that Kokichi had never returned his hat.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hwljfslfj the head canon that 'kokichi and miu are secretly friends and that's why they insult each other all the time' rly grew on me.  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	6. mind reeling like a fishing rod

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR TWS IN THIS CHAPTER PLEASE CHECK THE TAGS. Dreams happen. Epiphanies happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi friendsss this chapter was kind of hard to write but i'm really trying to branch out as an artist.  
> also!! i'm thinking about starting a really long saiouma au soon after i finish this fic because the ideas are just coming and coming and coming HAHA  
> i hope you enjoy this chapter <3

_The air was hot. The sun scorched the back of his neck as he walked with his head lowered and his hands in his pockets. Sweat plastered locks of hair to his forehead. A low snickering cluttered his ears from slightly behind._

_“Hey hey, look at the little faggot,” a voice like rocks on steel dragged from a little ways back on the dusty sidewalk. The swish of pants and jackets sped up until the presence was directly behind him. Smoke drifted into his throat and lodged itself in his windpipe, causing him to cough and slow down. Someone bumped into him from behind before he could walk faster and in on quick movement a rough hand gripped the back of his neck to steer him around the corner into an alley. Panic rose in his chest, but he kept silent, begging whatever god there was for it to not escalate this time._

_Maybe they just wanted his wallet._

_A crack sounded as the boy was slammed into a wall. He turned his head to the side as the person behind him repeatedly smashed his body against the brick. His vision started to swim and he felt his face warm up from the blood pouring out of the gash in his head. He took his hands out of his pockets in a clumsy attempt to brace himself against the wall._

_The person behind him let go of his neck with a harsh laugh. The boy half-breathed a sigh of relief before a sharp wet snap sounded and his left arm went numb. Time seemed to slow down as blood roared in his ears and his vision went shuttering black. Someone in the distance was screaming as he sunk to his knees. Painfully, his eyes focused again as he vaguely realized his mouth was open, and the person screaming was him. A rough blow to the back of his head rocketed him forward into the wall and he ricocheted before completely crumpling to the ground._

_A grimy boot made its way atop his head and he faintly heard men laughing behind him, their gurgling admissions of humor echoing off the cold walls of the alleyway. The person holding him down spit across the back of his neck._

_“What, you’re not gonna suck my dick? Useless piece of shit,” came the mocking tone of the man. When there was no response from the figure below him, the man above him shoved his boot harder into the back of the boy’s head. The boy let out a cry before the man stepped off of him and walked over to his buddies. He lay on the ground for a minute, hardly daring to breathe. Soon, he heard uneven footsteps walking towards him. The sound of something swinging through the air was the last thing he sensed before his world cut off abruptly._

_The second the object should have hit his head, the boy lifted his head weakly. He looked around. He was laying face up in the same alleyway as before. The sky was barely lit. The boy reached to take his phone out of his pocket before and ugly wave of nausea pulled it’s way through his body. Slowly, painfully, he turned his throbbing head to look at his legs. He blinked with blank, hardly-seeing eyes. Shame and embarrassment bloomed across his chest, into his fingertips. He felt disgusting._

_The scarce contents of his stomach threatened to make an appearance as he turned his head and looked around for his pants. The boy made to shift his legs and almost cried out in pain. His breath sped up as he found where his pants and underwear were lying, tossed aside, inside-out. Moving slowly, he crawled to all fours and started to make his way to his belongings. The soreness of his lower half was enough to make him stop after two or three feet and gasp heavily._

_Cringing at the movement, the boy sat back on his heels. He lightly scraped the inside of his right thigh with his fingertips. Before he had the time to dig the dried semen out of his fingernails, the boy twisted violently and vomited across the ground. For the first time since he had woken up, tears streamed freely down his face as he scrunched his eyes up against the heaving of his abdomen._

_After a minute or two of retching, the boy spit his tainted saliva on the ground and continued crawling towards his pants. Finally reaching them, he shoved his hand in the pockets, in a dull hope that he would find something,_ anything _to help him. When he felt nothing in the right pocket, he swallowed down the knot in his throat and tried to take deep breaths. He reached in the left pocket and felt around for a second until he felt something cylindrical._ _Distantly, his face took on a blank expression of horror, and he pulled the object out. His heart slammed against his bruised chest as he looked at the object for several seconds, frozen. Somewhere on the street outside of the alley, an engine roared to life, and the boy jolted._

_His face contorted impossibly as he dropped the cigarette butt and screamed._

Kokichi ripped his eyes open to find himself sitting straight up in his bed. He wildly scanned the dark room as his pupils adjusted to the lack of light. The trembling boy relaxed slightly after remembering that he was in his own bedroom in his own apartment, not on the street. The lavender glow of his digital clock told him that it was 1am.

Kokichi rolled out of the puddle of sweat that had made its way onto his bed. The thin white t-shirt he had worn to bed was stuck completely to his back, and he pulled it off of his sticky skin. Kokichi irrationally checked to see if he was still wearing his boxers and, thankfully, he was.

He scrubbed at his eyes with his fists, hard, and picked his phone up from the night stand. Putting the device in his pocket, he walked to the large window of his apartment and looked out at the other balconies across the street. The panic and nausea swirling in his chest began to subside as he watched the sprinkled lights of the stars, buildings, and streets. Kokichi leaned his head against the window and braced himself on the wall with his arms. Small patches of fog seeped across the window from his breath and the warmth of his forehead.

Kokichi forced himself to think about anything that wasn’t involved in the dream he’d just woken from. The first thing that came to mind was a certain detective, sitting across from him in a coffee shop and giggling. Kokichi absently wondered what Shuichi would have said if he’d been there while Kokichi had a nightmare. Would he have even heard him wake up? Would he have awkwardly patted Kokichi’s back before getting up to pour him a glass of water? Would he have held Kokichi and whispered soft words to convince the smaller boy that he was okay? Kokichi closed his eyes and shivered slightly from idea of Shuichi actually caring for him.

A humorless laugh escaped his hoarse throat and he pushed himself off of the window. Kokichi pulled his phone out of his pocket as he made his way to the kitchen. The soft blue glow of the screen lit his extra-pale face in the darkness of his apartment. The light from the fridge cast faint shadows across the kitchen and before going to sleep, Kokichi had drawn the curtains to allow the slivers of moonlight to be cast across his wooden floors. The only sound in the chilly apartment was the that of Kokichi’s feet padding back and forth across the polished oak.

Kokichi chewed his thumbnail, lost in thought. Little clicks drifted through the air as he began to type out a message, then delete it, then type out a different approach. After a few bouts of this, Kokichi tossed his phone on to the kitchen counter in favor of leaning on said counter and rubbing his eyes.

What about Shuichi made him want to care? Kokichi’s mind suddenly pricked with a scorching image of Dakota. For someone who he had deemed his closest friend to almost everyone he knew, Kokichi hadn’t had much of a reaction to her disappearance. His chest had felt pretty empty, sure, but that was all. There had been no tears, just disappointment directed towards the brunette.

Just disappointment that she hadn’t stayed.

So how was Kokichi sure at all that Shuichi was going to stay? What on earth about the awkward blue mop of hair had captivated him? The way he laughed and pointed at fish? Surely not. Kokichi wasn’t some boy-crazy idiot. Kokichi knew, he _knew_ what public exposure for liking men meant. Kokichi shuddered as the air was punched from his lungs upon the recollection of his nightmare.

The introduction of a deep breath brought up the recent memory of his and Shuichi’s banter during their day at the park. Involuntarily, Kokichi tensed as he relived the moment of screeching anxiety while Shuichi confirmed that Kokichi was, indeed, gay. Shuichi hadn’t cared, of course. He’d actually related, (seemingly with no qualms about it, the bastard,) to him. Kokichi thanked whatever higher power was watching him that Shuichi hadn’t been traumatized. Or maybe he had? Kokichi couldn’t really tell. Shuichi was a strange one.

Maybe that’s why Kokichi wanted him to stick around this time, just to figure him out. Although, Shuichi seemed like the type to try and figure _Kokichi_ out. Maybe that’s all he was to to Shuichi Saihara. A case for the private detective with no social life. Shaking the ugly thought out of his head, Kokichi reached for his phone again. Maybe if he pretended he was okay, he really would be.

[1:32am] Sent: _hey shumai,,,, just wanted to check on how ur doing uwu_

[1:32am] Sent: _make sure to not overwork urself >:((((( _

Kokichi watched his messages send, deliver, then sit static on the screen. His eyes flicked to where the three little dots could theoretically pop up and signal to him that Shuichi has seen his message and was responding. He stared at his phone for a couple minutes, tapping the screen when it faded dark for auto-screen saving, and absently wondering why he actually expected Shuichi to see his message this late.

At 1:40am, Kokichi forced: down a sigh, himself to shut off his phone, and his feet to carry him back to his forsaken bedroom of nightmare hell. At this point he couldn’t tell if he was being dramatic or not. Whatever. He was sure he’d feel better in the morning.

***

A puzzled frown made it’s way onto Shuichi’s face. Light from his reading lamp threw sharp cuts of shadows across his face. Shuichi’s living space was nothing short of plain. Modern, yes, but completely and utterly boring. Shuichi had never been one to decorate much. Growing up in a household where his parents bought him anything he wanted whenever he mentioned any slight interest in something had taken the fun out of posters, paintings, plants, anything really. By the time he turned 18, Shuichi was completely and utterly sick of having things handed to him. He longed for puzzles, logic dives, ideas and theories that kicked his mind into overdrive. In short, Shuichi Saihara, trust fund baby, had not made contact with said parents since high school.

His apartment was dark save for the light from his living room pouring through the cracks in his door. Leaving the light on made him feel like he wasn’t alone in his apartment. Although, there were much easier ways of curing feelings of loneliness. One of Shuichi’s favorites happened to be watching a horror movie. Tonight, however, Shuichi had not watched any movies. Instead, he was poring over the recent murder case that had usurped the throne of importance in his mind. He looked down at the notes he had taken painstaking care to write. 

Female, age 22, murder victim

Name: Rika Hamasaki

Apartment found in a state of disarray; nothing stolen

Death: Tied to chair with industrial grade rope, laceration to head, 6 stab wounds in abdominal area*, minor wounds to other parts of body

*Cause of death

Time of death: before 8pm

Dangan Ronpa reruns playing on living room television

Shuichi closed his eyes, trying to remember why exactly the last two bits of information had been so important. While he watched the fuzzy darkness that was the backs of his eyelids, a random memory flashed to the front of his mind.

_‘Shuichi!’ Kaito yelled from the other room, ‘Get your ass in here, it’s about to start,’_

_The slight buzzing of the overhead artificial light mixed with the background noise of conversations from across the wall._

_Shuichi, who was standing in the kitchen of his close friend’s house, ignored the other’s admissions of rush and calmly continued pouring water for Kaito, Maki, and himself. The refrigerator growled as it made use of it’s last life to dispense filtered water. Shuichi yawned._

_It was a Saturday, but being the studious idiot he was, Shuichi had stayed up until nearly 3am studying for Psychology and AP Lang. His teacher had made the choice of assigning the class public criminal records from the internet to analyze and write about. Shuichi being the murder mystery fan he was, absolutely devoured the assignment, perhaps spending a little too much of his time on it._

_Kaito and Maki’s conversation drifted a little louder into the kitchen as they argued lightly over something. Kaito’s voice dominated, while Maki’s quiet rebuttals and deadpans of ‘do you wanna die’ wove their way through the silences. Shuichi smiled. Putting the three cups on a surface to carry them into the room with, as well as the popcorn, Shuichi finally made his way into the dark living room._

_‘Damn it Shu, it’s almost 8pm,’ Kaito hissed from the cushioned green couch, ‘you_ know _they’re never late,’_

_Shuichi took his usual spot among the worn leather of the recliner chair while Kaito and Maki sat together on the couch. Kaito scooted to the edge of the cushions, leaning towards the screen as if it might allow him to enter the program if he got close enough. Shuichi pulled his hat up slightly so he was able to actually see the television. Nobody spoke as the timer on the counted down to zero._

_The Dangan Ronpa theme began to emanate from the screen,_

Shuichi opened his eyes.

_8pm. Dangan Ronpa. 8pm. Dangan Ronpa._

_Dangan Ronpa._

_8… pm?_

Shuichi lightly rapped his fists against the top of his forehead. Before leaning his face against his hand. What were high school flashbacks going to do for him anyway? He’d probably been sitting here for way too long. Shuichi had a nasty anxious habit of writing and rewriting his notes in hopes that something might pop out at him again. Why else would he need journals for each case?

Shuichi mulled over the previous events of the day. 

After leaving the cafe and arriving at his apartment, Shuichi had shot a text to Rantaro before driving to the police station that he needed to see someone who had worked on the case.

Upon stepping through the glass and metal doors of the department, Shuichi had been hit with a blast of warm, artificial coffee scented air. Laughing slightly at the parallel to Shuichi’s usual ‘office’, the detective wiped his feet on the black synthetic carpet. With Rantaro being out of the office that particular day, Shuichi was directed to a newbie to help him out.

Not that Shuichi didn’t already know his way around the police department anyway. It was more of a: the general members of the PD disliked Shuichi and wanted to make sure he wasn’t pulling anything weird. _Like he would be the one to do that_. After solving a case that turned the PD’s “justified practices” inside out to the public, Shuichi had been ‘gently encouraged’ by Kyoko to become a private investigator before he ended up being straight up fired by the head of the department. Shuichi, thankfully, had taken her advice and avoided a “fired” on his resume.

The new recruit, Mikan Tsumiki, had stuttered her way through an explanation of the evidence. After she finished, Shuichi had decided it would be a good idea to ask her about her time at the department. She had taken quite some time to recover from the ‘interest from somebody as upstanding as you, Mr. Saihara,’ but eventually Mikan told Shuichi that she was actually hoping to specialize in autopsies, but had been getting her start in the general investigative division. After a few hapless incidents in which Mikan definitely did _not_ fall over into _any_ compromising positions, Shuichi had gathered the information he needed from the department.

Thanking Mikan slightly embarrassedly for her help, Shuichi grabbed the edge of his hat and it pulled it down over his eyes to avoid any contact with the rest of the officers in the department while he speed-walked out. He nearly doubled over upon reaching the outside of the department, taking deep breaths. The stifling atmosphere of the offices reminded him of what a fish might feel like at the bottom of the ocean with the aquatic pressure bearing down on it’s delicate gills every single day.

Wait. Why had he even been thinking about fish? … Regardless, Shuichi had gratefully made his way to the bus stop. Shuichi almost never drove his car. It was a beautiful, sleek car that had probably cost hundreds upon thousands of dollars; in fact, that was probably the reason Shuichi _didn’t_ want to drive it around. Something about the model car made him feel uncomfortable. Shuichi didn’t like to be the center of attention, not to mention the car had been a not-so-anonymous gift from his parents for his 21st birthday, shipped all the way from the States.

Rubbing his eyes with his right fist, Shuichi picked up his phone.

The detective softly hummed the tune of a pop song the bus had been playing on the way home while he flipped the screen on to one notification. Shuichi looked at the time, surprised. He hadn’t expected anyone to be texting him at… 2:03am. So much for getting sleep. Shuichi got up as he opened the message. His socks sunk into the fluffy rug on his floor and he slowly walked over to the kitchen island. Light from the various clocks on his kitchen appliances cast a cool glow over him. Shuichi blinked as he read the text.

[1:32am] Kokichi Ouma: _hey shumai,,,, just wanted to check on how ur doing uwu_

[1:32am] Kokichi Ouma: _make sure to not overwork urself >:((((( _

Shuichi couldn’t help but smile before the thought occurred to him that Kokichi most likely had other people to text. Or did he? Shuichi’s face pulled into one of concentration as he mulled over the many possible reasons for receiving a text from The Kokichi Ouma at 1:30am. Had Kokichi been having trouble sleeping? Shuichi shook the thought out of his mind. He wasn’t well-rested enough to deal with the consequences of thinking about Kokichi’s sleep schedule at… now 2:06am. Even if he really, _really_ wanted to.

Shuichi yawned and walked back into his room, making his groggy way over to the shelves full of journals. He sluggishly flicked through the different journals until he found the one he was looking for, titled ‘Kokichi Ouma’. Oh. Shuichi guessed he was going to overanalyze the shorter boy again anyway. He began to pull it out when the journal to it’s left fell out of his bookshelf, open on the ground.

With a light groan, Shuichi bent down to pick it up and flipped it over with curiosity. The details of the ‘suicide’ case stared back at him. Shuichi began to laugh softly in second-hand embarrassment at his previous emphasis that the case had indeed been a murder. He flipped through the pages until he found the clear list of attributes of the case. 'Razor blades in trash'… 'No fingerprints'… 'Time of death: before 8pm'.

Why he decided to read through the evidence list on one of the only cases the detective had ever dropped, Shuichi couldn’t say. Maybe it was late enough for nonsensical decisions. His eyes stopped on the third to last piece of evidence. 

'TV found playing Dangan Ronpa reruns.'

Shuichi nearly dropped the notebook.

8pm. But not only that. _Before_ 8pm. Leaving Kokichi’s journal forgotten, Shuichi gripped the closed case notes and nearly tripped in his rush back to his desk. Falling into his chair, Shuichi wrote and erased and rewrote and erased. They were connected. They had to be. If the victim died before 8pm, and Dangan Ronpa has never started before or after 8pm, Dangan Ronpa must have been turned off after the victim died.

_The_ murderer _must have turned on Dangan Ronpa after_ killing _the victim._

Shuichi paled. He had been right. It wasn’t a suicide. _It was never a suicide._ Anxiety coursed through his veins as he ran his hands roughly through his hair. Both of the cases were, without a doubt connected. But did he have any evidence that the cases were connected other than Dangan Ronpa? Who’s to say these weren’t just coincidences? Shuichi’s eyes widened like gunshots and he pulled his computer closer to him before rapidly typing.

19 minutes later, the media player cut off as the video ended and the screen went dark. Shuichi watched himself in the monitor’s reflection, breathing hard and wide eyed. There was no mistaking the identity of the person in the interrogation room.

The significant other that had been interviewed by the Jabberwock PD concerning the ‘suicide’ of a 22 year old man was none other than the female murder victim of the case Shuichi was currently working on. The evidence he had gathered from each case seem to fit together perfectly. Shuichi swallowed hard. It was probably time for him to go to bed. He needed to be well rested if he wanted to get anything done the next morning at the cafe.

After all, he _was_ dealing with a serial killer.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first off, i'm so sorry for hurting my baby boy. it's important for plot. i'm still sorry, though.  
> second off: i totally pulled the pd stuff out of my ass bc i have 0 experience in that regard, so if you have suggestions pls make sure to lmk in the comments :)
> 
> comments are greatly appreciated om nom nom  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open for requests or anything else: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	7. i could krill for some coffee right now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi is the littlest of shits. Also he has trauma. But Shuichi doesn't know that. (Although Shuichi is really good at reading Kokichi and Kokichi is not used to someone being able to read him so well)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY, AN UPDATE  
> i am here. anxiety has been kicking my ass lately. i'd like to say i've been doing great but i've had multiple panic attacks in the last 4 days. writing is my safe space tho so this made me feel better.  
> ENOUGH ABT ME  
> pls enjoy <3

When Shuichi finally arrived at the coffee shop the next day, he was absolutely wrecked from lack of sleep. It was quite clear in his outfit, expression, and voice. Shuichi was too tired to even be in a bad mood. He was just going through the motions at this point.

 _Coffee_ , his mind hummed. _Need_ _coffee_.

The one who greeted him with a pleasant smile at the register was not Kaede Akamatsu, but rather Kokichi. There was about a 7 inch space where the last bit of Kaede should be, and Shuichi’s eyes had to just to look down at the smaller cashier.

“Hey Shumai, whatcha wanna order today?” Kokichi said with a smile that was slightly bigger than normal.

“Uh, let me think for a second,” Shuichi said, “also, what’s got you so excited today?” Kokichi’s smile flipped down a notch.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just happy to be here! Take your time ordering,” Kokichi answered with less gusto than before. Shuichi’s eyes scanned the menu as he thought about what he usually asked for on sleepless mornings.

“Okay, I’ll have a large green tea frappuccino, no classic or base, soy to the second line, one scoop vanilla bean, one pump skinny mocha, a couple scoops of matcha, heaping grande scoop of ice, blended on 3, three times.”

Kokichi blinked.

“Seriously?”

It was Shuichi’s turn to look confused.

“Uh, yeah. I guess it’s weird for you to hear it for the first time. Kaede can usually tell which of my regulars I’ll order based on how much sleep it looks like I got. I can repeat it so you can write it down; the order is kind of complicated,” Shuichi said with a yawn punctuating the last remark. Kokichi just nodded and grabbed a cup and a pen.

Shuichi repeated his order slowly, and Kokichi scribbled it down on the cup.

“Oh, okay, I get it. This actually isn’t that complicated. I’ll have it ready in a bit,” Kokichi looked back up with his previous smile before it turned to a slightly concerned grin, “You uh, did you get enough sleep last night? Not that I care; this order’s just ridiculous. I expected you to come in all like _‘oh just a black coffee please_ ’.” Kokichi used a poorly executed imitation of Shuichi’s voice while quoting the detective.

Shuichi laughed in exhaustion.

“I just kinda pulled an all nighter. I think I made a breakthrough,” the bluenette said. 

Kokichi’s eyebrows raised but he just nodded. Shuichi thanked him for taking his order and dragged himself over to the booth. His phone pinged with a text message from Kaede, letting the detective know that she was out for the day but to let her know if Kokichi caused him any ‘strife’. Shuichi laughed before frowning at the other notification still sitting in his phone.

He looked back at Kokichi, who had busied himself with the espresso machine. If the newly employed barista had noticed that Shuichi never responded to his text, he hadn’t shown it. Shuichi shrugged off the thought and pulled his items out of his briefcase. Once everything was spread across the table, Shuichi paused. The exhaustion was hitting in waves. He looked around the cafe to try and recuperate.

It was a relatively small space. The door faced the counter directly, and the menus were written neatly in chalk on dark boards. The booths were a dull reddish brown, and the tables and chairs around the cafe were all made of polished wood. On the wall opposite the booth from Shuichi, vines hung down the wall and curled around paintings and pictures. The light was mostly natural, from large windows around the building. Shuichi’s booth sat in a corner with no windows at it’s side, making it feel enclosed and safe. He was still lit by natural light as he peered around the cafe he had come to know and love. 

Shuichi’s thoughts were interrupted when the little barista skipped up to his table with the coffee.

“You never told me anything about the case! Care to elaborate? Here’s your Caramel Mocha, Saihara-chan,” Kokichi chirped. Shuichi nearly took it from the smaller boy before realizing something was off. 

“Uh, Kokichi, I know you have a few other customers right now so it’s fine, but this isn’t what I ordered,” Shuichi divulged. Kokichi looked down to the coffee, then up to Shuichi, then to the other customers, then at the ceiling, then down at his apron, then back at the coffee.

“Oops! Sorry Shumai, honest mistake,” Kokichi promised with a small grin. Somehow, Shuichi didn’t believe that was true. Regardless, he let it slide in favor of answering Kokichi’s first accusation.

“Well, I haven’t completely figured everything out, but I realized that the case I’m working on now was connected to the one that I dropped a few weeks ago. It makes _sense_ , but I’m having trouble finding any other leads. They’re both very well covered crimes, I have to give the culprit that,” Shuichi said tiredly. He leaned back in his seat and rubbed his eyes, ignoring Kokichi’s look of ‘tell me more!’. He was too sleep-deprived for this.

After a few seconds, Kokichi got the message. Or, some message. Shuichi wasn’t sure what the purple haired guy was thinking.

“Okay Shumai, I’ll go redo your order,” Kokichi chimed. Shuichi nodded and yawned for the umpteenth time. While he listened to Kokichi’s receding steps, Shuichi opened his computer and tried to begin reading through his notes.

His brain hummed while he scanned the evidence of the case.

...two murders…

…victims romantically involved…

...no struggle during first murder…

...clear struggle during second murder...

  
...nothing stolen from ransacked apartment…

...premeditated murder made to look like a suicide…

Shuichi’s eyelids began to sink down.

... something about fingerprints…

...tv show...

...halloween mask…

Shuichi moved his arms in front of his face and laid his head down. Maybe if he closed his eyes… his brain would work faster…

***

Shuichi woke up around 10 minutes later (he checked his computer clock). He felt a tiny bit better, and also a tiny bit pissed off that he had been woken up. He looked up in annoyance to see exactly who had tapped his shoulder so excitedly.

Kokichi’s beaming face stared back at him, and the detective’s expression softened. His annoyance fled and his heart beat softly. Shuichi ignored both of these sensations.

“I brought Emo Hat his coffee!” Kokichi exclaimed. Shuichi just nodded and took the coffee without looking. 5 seconds after taking a sip, he turned to Kokichi and scrunched his nose.

“Why’s there so much… sugar,” he demanded in a sleepy growl. 

“You didn’t order a frozen french vanilla swirl coffee with skim milk?” Kokichi asked with a mask of seriousness. At least, Shuichi assumed it was a mask. This wasn’t even close to what he had ordered.

“No, Ouma-kun, I ordered a green tea frappuccino. It’s okay, just bring me something with caffeine,” Shuichi sighed.

“Okay, I will. But first,” Kokichi leaned onto the edge of the table and whispered in Shuichi’s ear, “tell me more about your breakthrough!!!”

Shuichi thought for a moment.

“Let me organize a few things on my computer, then maybe I’ll let you read some stuff later,” he conceded. Kokichi gasped and threw out a thumbs up before skipping back to the counter, presumably to make Shuichi’s drink.

Shuichi put his head back onto the table and laid down again. Maybe Kokichi would take a little longer to make his drink again.

***

Kokichi _had_ to be doing this on purpose, Shuichi decided as he looked down at the bright purple liquid in the cup. Was this even safe to drink?

“Sooo, tell me about the case. Right now!” Kokichi whined. Shuichi hesitantly brought the cup to his lips and took a sip. He paused for a few moments then spit it out, fighting down a cough. He reached up to his mouth to pull out…

A tiny plastic fish?

Resisting the urge to slam his head on the table, Shuichi turned to Kokichi again.

“Kokichi, if you don’t get my order right, I won’t show you anything about the case.” 

Shuichi’s patience had officially run out. 

Kokichi flailed dramatically and started to tear up before Shuichi’s hand shot out and brought Kokichi’s ear close to Shuichi’s face. The detective grit his teeth.

“I don’t care how cute and charismatic and whatever you are. I want my _fucking_ coffee, Ouma-kun,” Shuichi demanded. He released Kokichi, who coughed lightly into his hand in attempt to hide his very red face. Shuichi raised his eyebrows and lowered his chin. Kokichi nodded quickly and pouted slightly before fleeing back to the counter.

Shuichi put his face in his hands. Maybe he should eat something too. There was a possibility that the mistakes hadn’t been Kokichi’s fault. Shuichi turned back to his computer and began to type before stopping. Maybe he should go apologize. Shuichi’s tired mind went into overdrive, thinking about all the possible ways Kokichi could have mentally reacted to Shuichi’s lapse into annoyance. Shuichi picked himself up out of the booth and made his way over to the counter. He found where Kokichi was working and leaned against the counter to place a hand on the smaller boy’s shoulder. 

“Hey Ouma-kun,” he started. Kokichi jolted, not having heard Shuichi approach over the noise of the coffee grinder. After grabbing the cup tightly to make sure the coffee he was making didn’t spill, Kokichi turned to look at Shuichi.

“Hey Shumai!”

Shuichi watched Kokichi’s smile from earlier retake it’s place on the barista’s face. Something about the smile unsettled Shuichi. It was almost different from any other smile the detective had seen Kokichi wear. 

“I wanted to apologize for earlier. I’m usually not so temperamental. I’m actually pretty spoiled, if you think about it. Kaede usually just knows,” Shuichi admitted. Kokichi’s smile got wider, for some reason.

“Oh, sorry I’m not Kaede then-”

“Ouma-kun, I think you know that’s not what I meant,” Shuichi tried (and failed) to interject.

“-Shumai. Next time I’ll make sure to pay extra attention for my favorite customer.”

The nickname sounded choked to Shuichi.

“Ouma-kun, forgive me for prying. Did something happen?” Shuichi’s eyes widened, “Are you angry I didn’t respond to your text?”

Kokichi stared at Shuichi for a couple seconds before laughing.

“I forgot I even texted you last night! I was so busy yesterday that I forgot to be disappointed that you didn’t respond,” Kokichi cooed. Shuichi looked back at him with a calculating expression. Again, something about Kokichi’s entire disposition was _off_ today.

“I think _you’re_ the one who’s off today, Shumai. Was the case really so crazy that you had to stay up the whole night?? And then _still come here_? Not that I’m complaining, of course, I love seeing my beloved’s face in the cafe, however tired or not,” Kokichi decided.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Kokichi stopped gesticulating and squared his entire body to Shuichi in a blank stare.

“Ouma-kun, if something’s bothering you that much, I’ll listen,” Shuichi reiterated carefully. Kokichi hesitated before shrugging and continuing to make Shuichi’s coffee. Shuichi weighed his choices. In the end, he decided to continue talking.

“The case was going really well. I feel like I was on the verge of realizing something all night, but the longer I stayed up, the less my brain wanted to think. Maybe I should have gone to sleep like you said earlier,” Shuichi rambled. He looked up to see Kokichi holding his drink out to him. Shuichi took it and inspected it briefly before sipping it. Finally, Kokichi had gotten the correct order.

“Thanks Ouma-kun. I really needed the caffeine, as you could probably tell,” Shuichi sighed. When Kokichi just gave him a dull smile, Shuichi walked back to his seat. If Kokichi didn’t want to talk, that was up to him. Although it seemed like Shuichi had hit the nail on the head when he had assumed that something had happened. Kokichi had been fine the day before- what had happened within the 18 hours Shuichi hadn’t seen the guy?

Shuichi sat down in his booth, already half finished with his drink. He tapped his mouse pad to wake up his computer and began to skim through the information he had put together.

As soon as he finished, he heard a swish and a fwoomp. He looked up to see Kokichi sitting across the table from him, elbows on the table holding his chin up. 

“Oh, hey Ouma-kun,” Shuichi stammered, “you startled me.” Kokichi yawned and fixed Shuichi with a hard stare. Shuichi didn’t say anything, but grew increasingly uncomfortable with the awkward silence. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn’t gone to say anything after all-

“How long were you and Kaede together?”

Shuichi was brought back out of his thoughts. He processed the question.

“That’s what’s been bothering you?” He asked incredulously.

Kokichi scoffed, “Well, _duh_. What else could possibly keep me up at night?”

“If you think about it, a lot of things could keep you awake. For me it was the case, for other people it’s nightmares, or maybe forgetting to take your insomnia meds,” Shuichi looked at Kokichi who was staring back at the detective with an expression that said ‘have you lost your mind?’

“I guess that’s not really what you were asking though, was it?” Shuichi’s ears turned pink.

“Well, yeah. I’m not a cool detective like you, I definitely don’t have insomnia, and I actually haven’t had a nightmare in years, so I had to have slept like a baby,” Kokichi yawned (ironically).

“Ah. Well, that’s good. To answer your question, Kaede and I dated in high school. Like I said, though, we’re both gay. You don’t have to worry about her,” Shuichi said as he turned to take another sip of his coffee. There was silence for a few seconds before Shuichi spluttered and coughed,

“Not that you would be worried at her, at all. I mean- you know how you were joking, and I guess I just thought-”

“I actually was worried about her, the first day. You guys seemed really close,” Kokichi said brightly. Shuichi’s face turned pink and he took another sip of his drink instead of responding.

“Are you like, publicly out?” Kokichi asked casually, twirling his hair on his hand. Shuichi paused to think.

“I guess I am? But not really. I don’t have very many friends, if you haven’t noticed. If someone asked I’d probably tell them, yeah,” Shuichi responded, “Why?”

Kokichi chewed his lip, “You’re not ever scared they’ll judge you?”

“Of course people judge me. I’ve never been uh, harassed or anything for it though. I actually feel really sorry for people who are.,” Shuichi amended.

“Don’t.”

Shuichi looked back up at Kokichi.

“What?”

Kokichi crossed his arms and leaned back, “You’re a detective, do I really have to spell it out for you? I said don’t. As in, don’t feel bad for them.”

Shuichi swallowed, “Oh, I’m sorry Ouma-kun. I didn’t- I wasn’t aware you…” The detective trailed off at the silence from the barista.

Kokichi just kept _looking_ at him with the same blank expression. The awkward silence was palpable, and it molded into a pair of oxygen earmuffs that pressed against Shuichi’s head so hard he could hear his heartbeat. The atmosphere of the cafe seemed to slow. Time turned to molasses

Finally, Kokichi’s entire demeanor shifted in a split second. He swiped his hands back to cup the back of his neck and laughed with his elbows up.

“I’m kidding Shumai, I don’t care who you feel sorry for. I just wanted to know what you thought.”

Shuichi nodded, bewildered at the change in pace. 

Kokichi continued in an easygoing voice, “Actually, I was a little disappointed you didn’t respond to my text. After all, if you pulled an all-nighter you had to have seen it. D-did you ignore m-me?” Tears started to fill his purple eyes. Shuichi shook his head furiously and waved his hands around a little.

“I told you, I was up all night rewriting my previous analysis of the case. I had a ton of new information. Actually, I wouldn’t have realized the cases were connected if I hadn’t seen your text,” Shuichi said, mumbling the last part.

Kokichi perked up at this, “What about my silly text helped you solve what seems to be a double homicide, Watson?”

Shuichi rolled his eyes.

“First of all, _I_ would be Sherlock. Because, y’know, Sherlock is the detective. And Watson is his assistant. Second of all, it’s not necessarily a double homicide. Technically, this is a case of a serial killer. Third of all-” Shuichi thought back to the night before. He paled slightly. There was no way he was going to tell Kokichi Ouma that there was a journal in his bookshelf dedicated to figuring him out like a case. Judging by the barista’s reaction to Shuichi’s previous pity toward victims of homophobia and the like, the outcome would not be… favorable. Shuichi clamped his mouth shut.

Kokichi was not stupid, and watched this reaction very skeptically.

“Is it some weird fetish thing?”

Shuichi froze. His mind literally went blank. He spoke automatically.

“Ouma, what the fuck?”

Kokichi laughed, “Damn, I got you to drop the honorific too! I was kidding Shumai, I know you’re too vanilla to be into that stuff. Liking guys is probably already a stretch for you.”

Shuichi resisted the urge to huff and cry at the same time.

“No, it just jogged my memory. Your text did. Probably something about dropping the case after going to your house. Or thinking about it in this cafe. Or something. I don’t know, right?”

Kokichi stared at Shuichi with his jaw hanging open.

“Wow. You. Are. _Ass_ at lying,” Kokichi giggled, “I’ll let it slide this time though. Someone _really is_ tired.” Shuichi sighed, half out of relief, half out of exasperation.

Kokichi continued, “You know what? I’ll call you later tonight, to make sure you’re actually getting sleep.”

Shuichi scratched his head, “How would I be able to tell you I’m getting sleep if you _call me while I’m asleep_?”

“I’ll call you at like, 9. Surely you don’t sleep that early,” Kokichi pursed his lips in thought, “Although I wouldn’t mind if you got that much sleep tonight. You need your rest, Saihara-chan.”

Shuichi exhaled softly, “Fine. Call me later. Now get back to work, Ouma.”

Kokichi beamed and flashed a thumbs up before hopping out of his seat and skipping back to the counter with seemingly renewed energy. 

Shuichi turned back to his computer and rubbed his eyes before setting his hands on the keyboard lightly and beginning to type.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so excited to get to more plot,, next chapter is gonna be more like,, character building ig?? you'll see <3  
> om nom nom comments mean the world to me even if i'm terrible at responding (i will get around to it i promise) but aaaa they make me smile :))  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	8. doorbell splash (dash)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi is bad at socializing, the jerk. Shuichi stays up too late. More dreams happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhhh its late but hi!!! this story is still being written so if ure still here, ty for staying  
> i wanted to mess w kokichi's characterization in dis one :D  
> might format this later but for now have big blocky bois of text heheh  
> enjoy <3

Damn, the standard phone ring was so annoying. Maybe if Kokichi could get a video of Kaede yelling at him in the coffee shop he could change the sound. Or maybe he could ask Shuichi to say something for him…? What would the guy even say, though? ‘U-Uh hello, I’m Shuichi Saihara and I let people walk all over me. I’m the ultimate doormat! Also, you have a call, Ouma-kun.’ Kokichi shivered and laughed. Well, Shuichi wasn’t  _ always _ a doormat. Kokichi should find a way to keep the detective up all night and see if Shuichi was still as impatient as before. Yeah, Kokichi was a certifiable piece of shit. Make the person you want to keep close to you for some random-ass reason feel like crap because you’re interested in how they react. Hey, Kokichi, what if you actually tried to be a good person and get close to him through  _ normal _ methods, so that he would let his guard down around you? Maybe your questions would be answered that way! Haha. Ha. No fucking way. Like Kokichi could just waltz up to the flustered, emo bastard and just make a place in his heart. Who was he kidding? They’d looked at fish together. And Shuichi had come to his apartment. Big fuckin’ whoop.

Kokichi flopped backwards onto his bed from his sitting position and exhaled. Man, the ceiling was so incredibly boring. Not that he could see it; it was incredibly dark out. Kokichi just  _ knew _ it was boring. The only non-boring thing in his life right now was Shuichi Saihara. 

Damn it! Stop thinking about Shuichi Saihara!

Kokichi groaned. He was getting nowhere. At this rate, he’d delve into one of his stupid fantasies about Shuichi calling and checking up on him in the middle of the night and Kokichi accepting. Not that Shuichi would ever do that - nor would Kokichi accept. For Atua’s sake- Shuichi had never even  _ texted _ Kokichi.

Shit, that reminded him. Wasn’t Kokichi supposed to call Shuichi when he got home? What time had he said…? Ah, it probably didn’t matter. He could just say he forgot what time they’d decided on. Like Shuichi would even remember. Or maybe Shuichi remembered everything Kokichi had ever said, and had a little shrine to him. And… and a  _ journal _ where he wrote down all their interactions. The purplenette snorted. Kokichi didn’t know if that made him want to cringe or if it made him feel better for the sheer amount of time he spent thinking about the bluenette. At this rate, Kokichi was going to be an old maid before Shuichi ever even dialed his number up. How do you entice somebody who is only enticed by cold hard text on a paper about cold dead bodies? Ew, that made it sound like Shuichi had a necrophilia kink. Not that that was  _ completely  _ out of the question… Kokichi didn’t mind what Shuichi liked in bed! He was fine with aaanything. As long as, y’know, it was Shuichi. In bed with him. Damn. There you go again Kokichi! Piece. Of. Shit.

Rubbing his eyes, Kokichi slipped off of his bed. The cold press of the floor was muted by his thick white socks. The purplenette padded over to the kitchen, where his phone was charging on the counter. He could just  _ call _ Shuichi, right? That’s what people did? Shuichi had never responded to his messages, so if Kokichi texted the detective again it would just be awkward and look pretty desperate. Blech.  _ Not _ gonna happen. If Kokichi was gonna conquer that fragile little dummy of a heart, he shouldn’t look  _ more _ pitiful than the object of Kokichi’s affections himself. Although, Shuichi rarely looked pitiful. Kokichi just wanted an excuse for liking him so much. 

In reality, Shuichi was one of the most unapproachable people that Kokichi had ever met. Is that what made Kokichi want him so much? Probably not. Sure, Kokichi Ouma was a bigger attention whore than a crossdressing pig at a parade in New York, but that wasn’t the reason he liked Shuichi Saihara. Though, he still hadn’t  _ pinpointed _ the reason he liked the stupid detective. Sure, the guy made Kokichi feel safe, but was that really love? Kokichi felt safe basically anywhere now. An upside of living in such dire conditions for so long. Kokichi let out a dry laugh. Dire conditions. What would the detective say if Kokichi told him about some of the things he’d experienced? He could nearly imagine the detective’s face above him in bed. ‘By the way, I was raped when I was 16 years old. Be gentle!’ Urgghhh, like Shuichi would ever be in bed with him. Stupid fucking Kokichi. Shuichi couldn’t know what Kokichi thought of the detective, right? He only knew Kokichi’s lies so far. Or maybe Kokichi had been a bit too honest when Shuichi was over at his house. That god-forsaken day in the park. Someone like Kokichi should never let his guard down like that. Caring about someone? Not for Kokichi.

And with that thought, Kokichi dialed Shuichi’s number to check in with the detective and his mental health. Kokichi hated liars. Maybe that’s why he was irreversably disgusted with himself. 

Two rings, and Shuichi picked up. That bastard, he’d promised to sleep! Kokichi was going to give him a piece of his damn mind.

“Hey Shumai! Glad to see you’re fast asleep! I’m outside your window right now. Open up, doink doink!”

A hard exhale came from the other side of the phone.

“Hi Ouma-kun, why are you calling?”

What, so Shuichi didn’t want to be called? Well gosh diddly damn, didn’t that make Kokichi feel  _ wonderful _ . Fuck the detective. Kokichi should be wanted _. Needed. _

“Hello? Ouma-kun, are you still there?” Shuichi asked. His worried tone came through very clearly, despite the low quality audio. Okay, so Kokichi had managed to worry him in less than thirty seconds. He checked the call time. Less than 15 seconds. 

“Hey! Sorry, I’m just doing some really important things right now and had to ignore you for a sec,” Kokichi said brightly. He bounced on the balls of his feet in the middle of his dark, very empty kitchen, in his dark,  _ very empty _ apartment.

Shuichi responded after a moment of silence, “Oh, okay. Did you need something?”

“Damn, are you dense, Saihara-chan? Like, I know you’re a detective and stuff, but that’s a pretty stupid question to be coming from you.” Why was he being an asshole? Kokichi wanted to wire his jaw shut.

“Oh. Sorry, Ouma-kun. I must have missed what you said earlier. I’m just… I’m just pretty tired. I’m sorry,” Shuichi said quietly from the speakers.

Damn, dude. Stand the fuck up for yourself. If you’re tired, shouldn’t you be impatient? Of course Kokichi chose to be an asshole to the worst possible person. A person who managed to apologize twice in the span of 5 seconds.

Kokichi exhaled into the microphone, “I’m totally rolling my eyes right now, dummy. I was asking if you were asleep. Even my friend is nodding his head. You should be  _ asleep _ . Can’t you just work on the case in the coffee shop after getting a good night’s rest?”

“Well… I guess. It just feels like I’m so close to fitting it all together. You understand, right Ouma-kun?” Shuichi took a breath, but didn’t say anything else.

The line was silent for several seconds.

“You still there, Shumai?” Kokichi asked loudly. Ugh. Too loud, too awkward.

“Yeah, I’m here. If you want to hang up and go back to hanging out with your friend, I understand. I appreciate you calling me, though,” Shuichi said with an audible smile. Kokichi shuddered. He was glad Kokichi called him. That made Kokichi feel warm.

What a load of bullshit it was, truly.

“What friend?” Kokichi asked innocently.

Shuichi made a confused noise across the line, “Uh, didn’t you say-”

“Are you fucking stupid? That was a lie. I can’t believe you couldn’t tell,” Kokichi snarled. What was he doing? What the hell was he saying? Stop it, Kokichi. Stop it.

“Just, go to sleep. Seriously. You’re pissing me the hell off. You don’t need to do all of your detective work at night- plus, you aren’t getting anywhere. You’re just looking at the words for too long and losing your grip on the meanings.”

Stop it.

“I’m... sorry,” was all Shuichi said. Kokichi wanted to slam his head on the counter. Sure, Kokichi. The way to someone with zero self-esteem’s heart is  _ definitely _ through insults and degradation. Kokichi guessed he could cross that off the mental list of Shuichi Saihara’s possible kinks. The detective didn’t sound very turned on at the moment.

Kokichi yawned into the phone, “Alright, whatever. Just, leave me alone. I don’t know why you even called me in the first place. Ugh.”

Shuichi hesitated, “Oh, actually Ouma-kun, you were the one who called m-”

The line went silent. Kokichi pulled his thumb off the end call button and tossed his phone carelessly onto the counter. Wow, Kokichi! Pat on the back. You are officially incredible at socializing. Whatever, Shuichi probably didn’t care too much about it. And  _ Kokichi _ didn’t care at  _ all _ .

Of course, that’s how he found himself making a large green tea frappuccino, no classic or base, soy to the second line, one scoop vanilla bean, one pump skinny mocha with a couple scoops of matcha, a heaping grande scoop of ice, blended on 3 three times in his apartment kitchen. What? He’d happened to have it written down. Obviously. It’s not like people were just able to remember that shit. Kaede must have been being paid way more than the hourly rates from the coffee shop to have known it so well. Or maybe she was still in love with the stupid emo. Ah, no. Lesbian. Yeah, Kokichi felt like an asshole.

Speaking of Kaede, Kokichi pulled his phone out to text her asking for Shuichi’s address. No shame. The blonde responded incredibly quickly and to be honest, Kokichi really didn’t care what she was doing. He had a frappuccino to make.

After blending the ridiculous drink ‘on 3 three times’, Kokichi grabbed a spare lid and nice straw from his coffee accessory drawer. He paused, with the drink in his hand. What do you even say to someone you just pushed away via phone call? ‘Heyyy, I know I made you feel like crap on purpose less than an hour ago but I really wanted to make you this drink. Cheers?’ Before he could run all the possible scenarios through his head and inevitably psych himself out, Kokichi pulled a pad of paper from his kitchen cabinet and a pen from the counter.

The pen tapped against his chin while he leaned on the marble of the island. Kokichi was gonna write something absolutely  _ mind blowing _ . That’s how you woo someone, right?

_ heyyy stupid emo hat, if you’re not gonna sleep, at least get a lot done, please. _

Eh, Kokichi never got the highest grades in LitComp. The purplenette attached the note to the coffee cup with a bit of tape and made his way out into the apartment hall, locking the door behind him. The railings facing the outside courtyard were cold and dark, and the carpet on the hallway floor was soft and inviting. Kokichi’s steps were soft  _ dunk _ -s as he made his way to the apartment number Kaede had sent him. She better have told him the right one. Kokichi wasn’t about to hand the coffee to Shuichi directly, so if Kaede had given him the address of some old fart, Kokichi was never gonna hear back from Shuichi about the coffee. Although, if he were to be honest with himself, Kokichi knew that Shuichi was too damn shy to bring it up anyway. 

With that thought, Kokichi found himself standing in front of Shuichi’s apartment door. He set the coffee down carefully and stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, wondering what he should do. There was a doorbell! He could ring that. Or, he could make use of the gaudy door knocker Shuichi had attached to his door. What the hell? Who even  _ bought _ those anymore? Kokichi was pining over a grandfather.

What ended up happening was a firm set of knocking and a quick (but quiet) escape down the hall and around the corner. Kokichi didn’t look back to see if Shuichi opened the door. 

\----

Once back in his apartment safely (and after convincing himself that Shuichi wasn’t the type to come to Kokichi’s apartment and confront him about the coffee, even if the detective  _ did _ know where Kokichi lived), the barista flopped face-first onto his bed and sighed into the comforter. It took maybe three seconds for the midnight hour to slam Kokichi into a wall of dream-riddled sleep, and the barista was out like a light.

_ The boy opened his eyes and looked around. He was sitting in a hard plastic chair, and there was a glass pane in front of him. A phone hung on the wall to his right. Was this a jail? The boy looked down at himself. He was wearing a gray jumpsuit. Yep, definitely a jail. Hm... Interesting. _

_ The apparent inmate’s eyes were drawn to movement across the glass pane. A man wearing a dark button down coat and a baseball cap over his eyes pulled out the chair on the other side of the divider and sat down. The boy felt himself reach for the phone. _

_ The cold plastic pressed into his palm as the boy watched the dark haired-man across from him take the phone from his respective side of the glass pane. The boy curled his fingers around the body of the phone and cupped the receiver with his other hand as he raised the phone to his ear. _

_ The man across from him was quicker; his mouth opened gently and the boy watched the man speak first. _

_ “How have you been?” _

_ What a simple question. Did the boy know how he had been? This wasn’t even a memory. This was a dream. Maybe someone somewhere was reading this dream. Maybe someone was  _ writing _ it. Regardless, the boy had no recollection of this being an event that actually existed. _

_ And yet, he spoke quietly into the receiver. _

_ “I missed you last week.” _

_ I missed you last week? What exactly did he mean by that? The boy’s mouth had moved on it’s own. Maybe the man across from him would explain. _

_ “Sometimes you’re going to have to suck it up and wait, Kichi,” the man said. The boy’s eyes widened slightly, but other than that he felt no other reaction. Something about the dominance in the man’s voice and the way he spoke the name made the boy shiver in confusion. _

_ “Have you always been this confident?” The boy felt himself ask. The only response he heard from the man was a faint chuckle into the receiver. The boy felt himself speak again. _

_ “Your case. The one you were working on. How did it go?” _

_ The man rolled his eyes and smirked. _

_ “And why should I tell a pity-party like you? It was so much fun before you went and got caught,” the man said. _

_ The boy swallowed, “You were the one who caught me.” _

_ The man’s expression dropped, “Why’d you do it, Kokichi Ouma?” _

_ A wave of light swam before the boy’s eyes, and he held the receiver tighter. _

_ “Who’s that?” _

_ “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Would you like to help me?” hummed the man.  _

_ The boy’s fingers began to shake around the phone and he leaned closer to the divider, until he could see his breath fogging up the glass. _

_ “I just want to know who you are. What are you doing here?” the boy whispered. _

_ The man made a noncommittal noise: _

_ “Mmm. My name is Shuichi. I only know a few things. After all, I’m just an extension of you. I know that my name is Shuichi Saihara, I am the detective that put you in jail, and I know that you love me.” _

_ The boy cleared his throat and asked, “Anything else?” He didn’t really want to know the answer, but he watched the detective smile and raise the receiver closer to his mouth anyway. _

_ “Ah, how could I forget? I’m also an idealized version of not only yourself, but also the person you’re infatuated with.” _

_ Silence. _

_ The man spoke again, “So, now that I’ve told you about myself, why don’t you tell me why you killed him? Was it for me?” _

_ The boy’s voice cracked as he asked, “Who?” _

_ A muffled laugh from the other line. _

_ “Why, yourself, of course.” _

_ The boy’s protest of ‘I never killed anyone’ was lost as the scene was ripped apart by a terrorizing wind. The dream slowly faded to the black of his mind and his ever-running mind put him into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night. _

\----

Shuichi didn’t get visitors or packages that often, so he was quite confused upon hearing a knock on his door at a quarter to 1am. He yawned and stretched as he made his way to the door and looked out the peephole. Whoever was there had used the door knocker… except, there was nobody there? Shuichi opened his door tentatively and saw the coffee cup on the ground. He picked it up and skimmed the note attached to it. The sleep-clogged gears of his brain turned slowly as he put together the context clues. The detective looked around the dark hallway despite knowing that the delivery person would have left already.

Shuichi smiled as he closed his door with the drink in his hand. He raised it to his lips to take a sip.  _ Not too bad _ . It made him feel warm, though the drink itself was cold. 

Maybe it was something about the drink. Maybe it was the circumstances. Maybe it was the thought of the one who had carefully put the drink together. Shuichi didn’t want to sort through the implications of his excitement at a green tea frappuccino delivered at 12:43am.

But Kokichi Ouma just kept giving him more and more evidence to work with.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dudududududu it late am tired sorry for typos  
> comments 'preciated beep boom bop  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	9. a kraken in the mental barricade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi is tired. Kokichi opens up a 'lil. Shuichi makes a call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh dear.... i'm back.... finally. i'm gonna post more than one chapter tonight because i feel like thats what i owe y'all after taking a week long hiatus <3  
> not much to say!! ily all

Shuichi knew he wasn’t very social. Maybe that was an understatement, but if you took the crippling social anxiety he’d dealt with during high school into consideration, it might make a little sense that the detective’s habits were more on the reserved side. Coincidentally, his favorite band happened to be called Panic! At The Disco. Shuichi gave a small laugh to the chilly air outside the cafe as he walked through the doors. Panic! At The Disco? Sounded like Shuichi’s Junior Prom experience. The bell on the door dinged to signal his arrival to the entire room. This time it was Kaede at the counter, and Shuichi was just barely able to drag himself to the black-finished slab of stone. He rubbed his eyes and yawned as Kaede made a disapproving face at him.

“Hey, Mr. Sleepyhead! What happened to getting your full 10 hours?”

Shuichi glared softly at the barista through bleary eyes, “I was working on a case.” Like hell, he was. Really, what could Shuichi say? There was a lot of analysis to be done on a certain purple-haired man. Who, speaking of which, suddenly burst through the back door with two fists full of bright pink sugar packets. Kaede whipped her head around and gave Kokichi a stare like she was reprimanding a dog. Kokichi put the sugars on the counter and stepped back sheepishly.

“What are those for?” Kaede asked.

Kokichi scratched the back of his neck, “Oh, I was just stealing them to make myself some purple coffee.”

Shuichi wasn’t sure he wanted to know what purple coffee entailed. How do you even get coffee to be purple?

Kaede was more interested in the sugar itself. “Mmm. Why sugar  _ packets _ then?”

Kokichi huffed.

“Okay, okay. I was restocking the counter. Why can’t you let me live out my kleptomaniac dreams, Kae-ay-day?” He whined. Kokichi started to pick the sugar packets up before he looked at Shuichi and gave an overdramatic salute. Shuichi rolled his eyes and looked back at Kaede.

“So, would you like your usual? Or is this the day we start spicing it up,” she asked, turning to grab a cup already.

Shuichi picked up his cap and ran a hand through his hair, “Actually, can I just have one of the egg sandwiches? I’m in the mood to have breakfast today.”

Kaede froze before slowly looking at Shuichi like he had sprouted wings.

“Who are you and where the hell is Shuichi Saihara?” She whispered.

Shuichi laughed awkwardly.

“Ah, I’m just not too keen on having another coffee after last night,” he explained.

Kaede just looked at him blankly.

“Ouma-kun brought me the drink I would have ordered today, last night,” Shuichi tried to clarify.

Bouncing footsteps sounded near behind the detective as the excited voice rang out,

“Yeah, you never responded to that, Shumai!” Kokichi somehow pouted with energy. Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows for a second before smiling,

“Sorry Ouma-kun, I didn’t realize I should have responded. Thank you for the frappuccino.”

Kokichi threw his elbows up and cupped his neck, “Pfff, this guy’s boring as hell. Akamatsu-chan, I’m gonna go wash dishes.”

Kaede hummed in affirmation as she grabbed an egg sandwich and put it in the toaster oven for Shuichi. The latter leaned on the counter slightly and yawned. Kaede turned back around and raised her eyebrows.

“So, if you stayed up all night working on the case I’m assuming you’ve made a little more progress? Lay it on me, Sherlock. What’s up?” She teased.

Shuichi paused for a second. Cons of telling Kaede about his journal for Kokichi: teasing, less peace of mind, the possibility that she would ‘tamper with the crime scene’. Pros of telling Kaede about his journal for Kokichi: …

Shuichi laughed awkwardly for the second time that day. “Yeah, I uh,” he swallowed, “definitely solidified the beginning and I think I have a lead on the culprit. There’s a good connection. I have a few ideas.”

Kaede scoffed.

“You’re a terrible liar, Shuichi. Guess that hasn’t changed. I won’t push you, though,” she said as she handed Shuichi his food. Shuichi grimace-smiled in gratefulness and paid for the sandwich before scurrying to his booth. For once, Shuichi didn’t pull out his computer, his briefcase, or anything related to the case. He just scrubbed at his face and looked straight ahead. 

_ Kokichi Ouma: _

  * _Purple hair_



  *     * _Not just purple, black hair with mediocre purple tint job_



  *     * _It still looks good_


  *     * Objectively


  * Purple eyes


  *     * Large eyes


  * Fake confidence or real confidence?


  * Hyperbolizes his emotions to hide true thoughts


  * Feels very deeply


  * Creates issues for attention


  *     * Evidence: messed up order 3 times to start a conversation


  * Can be very quiet


  * Dislikes liars(?)


  *     * Compulsive liar


  * Brown haired girl


  *     * Went to high school


  * Intuitive


  * Likes fish(?)


  *     * Maybe that was flirting


  *     * With fish?


  *     * Probably not


  * Has a checkered phone case


  * Alters clothing


  *     * Made his own clothes


  *     *       * Situational poverty


  * Enjoys nature


  *     * Dislikes bugs. A lot.


  * Enjoys the calm. Anxiety? Maybe that’s a projection


  * Blushes when genuinely complimented


  * Adept at fake crying


  * Is walking up behind me.


  *     * Wait, what?



Shuichi’s mental recap of his notes was cut extremely short when the subject of his thoughts’ clippy footsteps sounded towards him from behind. Shuichi rubbed at his face again and looked up just in time to see Kokichi walking towards him. The shorter man was carrying a tray with drinks on it and seemed to trip on his feet, sending the tray flying through the air. Before Shuichi had time to react, Kokichi caught the tray with his foot. Shuichi gaped as Kokichi put the tray back on his hand and handed a couple drinks out to the people sitting at a table near Shuichi. Kokichi then hopped over and tumbled ungracefully into the seat across from Shuichi.

“Did it help?” Kokichi leaned forward, placed the tray down, and rested his chin on his hands.

Shuichi exhaled and looked at his egg sandwich.

“Assuming you’re talking about the drink, yes it did. I got a lot done on the c-” Shuichi snapped his head up suspiciously, stopping short. He meant to catch himself so as to not mention the work he did on the ‘case’ and draw Kokichi’s attention to it, but with the way the latter’s eyes lit up, it seemed to have the opposite effect as intended. Kokichi looked up from where he was scratching something into the table with a knife. From where Shuichi was sitting, it looked like it said S + K. Whatever  _ that _ meant. Shuichi internally waved off his confusion.

“Hmmm? What’s this? Why’d you stop?” Shuichi’s mouth stayed shut, “Come on Shumai, tell meeee,” Kokichi pouted and twisted around in his seat so that his head tipped to the side. It was amusing and exasperating, if not pretty cute. Regardless, if Shuichi wasn’t gonna tell Kaede, there was no way in  _ hell _ he would  _ ever  _ tell Kokichi himsel-

“I was taking notes on this cute guy I like because I’m obsessive and stalkery,” Shuichi deadpanned. If there were alarm bells in his head, his entire nervous system would be flaring code red, but he stayed sitting there, looking at Kokichi. Who, by the way, remained across from Shuichi, staring back at him with a blank face. Shuichi would have thought Kokichi would tease him. Or laugh. Or believe him. Instead, the barista just looked confused.

“Kokichi, that was a… a joke,” Shuichi stuttered. He looked down at his food and tried laughing to fill the air, but it came out more as a pained cough.

“We really need to work on your idea of humor. That was supposed to be funny?” Kokichi burst out laughing. Shuichi chanced a look up at the barista, and sure enough, he had recovered. 

“Yeah, I wasn’t exactly the class clown in high school,” Shuichi admitted. Internally, he sighed. Crisis averted. Maybe this was why Kokichi lied so much. Maybe it helped when he needed to tell a terrible truth? Shuichi’s palms itched to write down his ideas, but it didn’t seem the most appropriate, after just narrowly escaping Kokichi’s scrutiny. For all Shuichi knew, Kokichi could tell the detective was lying and just ignored it for his own sake. Shuichi hoped that wasn’t the case. 

Kokichi opened his mouth to speak when the door jingled. Shuichi looked over at the newcomer and smiled after a second. Kirumi Tojo made her way into the warm cafe with a soft smile on her face. Shuichi watched her get up and walk over to the counter, and decided it would be in good taste to go greet her. Last minute, he realized Kokichi was still sitting in the booth across from him. Shuichi looked back and gestured for Kokichi to follow him. Kokichi smiled and hopped up to walk next to Shuichi. He exaggeratedly walked like a robot to keep up with Shuichi’s long strides. Shuichi huffed a humored laugh to himself as they arrived at the counter.

“Oh hello Saihara-kun. How have you been?” Kirumi asked, turning to Shuichi.

Shuichi smiled back, “I’ve been pretty well off, how about you?”

“Good, good. I just wanted to check in on my staff, you know how it is. Speaking of which,” Kirumi turned to Kokichi, “Why aren’t you behind the counter working?”

Kokichi flushed slightly and scratched his head. Before he could offer up an obnoxious response, Kaede spoke up,

“As much as I’d love to say he’s spent all of his time sitting over there with his boyfriend, I have to tell you that he’s been working really hard,” she looked at Kokichi, who furtively glared at her. If looks could kill, Kaede would be hanging in a noose.

Kirumi made a noise of approval and clasped her hands together,

“Well, I’d just like to spend a little time in the cafe today. May I have a regular coffee, skim milk, and two pumps of caramel please?”

Kaede nodded and grabbed a cup to set to work. Kokichi seemed to take Kirumi’s presence as a cue to continue work, and slipped behind the counter. Shuichi watched him tie back his hair with the extra ponytail holder on his wrist. The detective might not have missed the blush on the purplenette’s face if he wasn’t so focused on calming his own adrenaline. Leave it to Shuichi to freak out over a simple jab from Kaede. The detective shook his head and turned to walk back to his booth.

Sitting down for the second time that day, Shuichi pulled out his computer. While it was turning on, Shuichi pulled out his sandwich and took a bite. He tapped in his password and the desktop loaded up with a little blinking symbol on his email notifying him of a few new messages.

After sorting through a slew of chain-mails from his uncle, Shuichi found a couple emails worth responding to. 

After clicking send on the last email, Shuichi yawned and rubbed his eyes. He opened a new tab to browse the news channels and look at any interesting stories he might have an interest in. Anything to take his mind off of the current cases. He didn’t need more murder mystery brainrot.

Shuichi’s phone pinged a little while later, and the detective dug the device out of his pocket. He squinted at the screen.

_ [11:34] Kaito: Yeah bro, I’d love to hang out. Is it chill if we come to the cafe? It’s always pretty convenient for us. _

Shuichi quickly typed out a confirming response and shut off his phone. He looked out the window and watched the cars drive by for a little bit. A pair of violet eyes watched him, lost in thought behind the counter.

\----

A little past noon, Shuichi got up to walk around and stretch. He figured it might be a nice time to walk outside and breathe in some fresh air. As soon as he stepped outside, he was met with Kokichi’s surprised face.

“Oh, hey Ouma-kun. Fancy seeing you here,” Shuichi said choppily.

Kokichi rolled his eyes and sniggled, “Hey, at least that actually  _ sounded _ like a joke. Or were you flirting with me? Kaede seems to think we’re…  _ involved _ .”

“And if I was?” Shuichi said before deciding to shut his mouth calmly, internally panicking over his sudden bout of confidence. Kokichi stopped laughing and looked out at the street.

“Did you go to prom, Saihara-chan?” Kokichi asked randomly. Shuichi blinked slightly at the subject curve. Was Kokichi uncomfortable with a topic he had brought up himself?

“Ah, yes, I did?” Shuichi answered tentatively. Kokichi looked at him strangely.

“Are you asking me, or telling me?”

Shuichi cleared his throat.

“Yes, I went to prom,” the detective said firmly, “with Kaede. Akamatsu.” Kokichi’s lips upturned.

“I knew who you meant. ... I didn’t go to prom,” Kokichi admitted. Shuichi looked over at him.

“That’s okay. Some people didn’t feel the need to. I didn’t really either, but Kaede dragged me. Something about wanting to do traditional couple-y things,” Shuichi smiled fondly at the memories. His eyes focused back on Kokichi, who’s eyes had gone sort of glassy.

“Hey, Ouma-kun, you still here with me?” When there was no response, Shuichi moved closer. Kokichi snapped out of his trance and looked at Shuichi with an unguarded expression. Shuichi watched as emotions flitted through his eyes before Kokichi threw on a somber smile. Anger, pain, fear, sadness, longing, and a mix of others that Shuichi didn’t have time to see clearly.

“I probably would have loved to go to prom. It’s just, my friend disappeared the week before it was scheduled. We didn’t really feel the urge to go to social gatherings at that point. The police just kind of dropped the case after a few days of looking for her with minimal effort.”

Shuichi closed his mouth and watched the words spill out of Kokichi’s mouth.

“She was a really good girl. If I weren’t gay I might have loved her in that way, y’know? Although, she was really involved with her girlfriend. Regardless, she meant a lot to me, I guess. And then we were supposed to see her this one day and there was radio silence on her end. I don’t know why I didn’t think more of it at first. Her girlfriend always seemed off to me. We just, never heard from her again. For all I know, she’s been dead since that day. I still think about her all the time. I’m barely in touch with any of the other members of our high school gang, but knowing that I couldn’t contact her if I tried just hurts really terribly. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t really know if I want to know what happened to her. Did she die a gruesome death? Would I want to hear about that? Probably not. She was such a hard worker, too. She was definitely one of the smartest people in our little group. I wouldn’t say I was dependent on her, but it was nice to have somebody who shared the same goals as me on my side. She put her all into everything she did. When I see people working really hard, it reminds me of her. I guess that’s part of the reason I really want to make it up to Kirumi-san for letting me work here. Hell knows I don’t deserve this job, but I was hired anyway. If it’s anything to Dakota’s memory, I’d like to do my best. Sometimes it brings back terrible thoughts, though.”

Tearing his eyes away from the street, Kokichi looked at Shuichi. Shuichi didn’t say anything. There weren’t any tears in Kokichi’s eyes, which was an interesting dynamic from his bouts of fake crying. Kokichi dropped his head to look at the concrete in front of the cafe and rubbed the toe of his shoe back and forth over the rough ground. After a second, he spoke up again with a course voice.

“Sorry, you probably came out here to clear your head, and I just dumped a bunch of shit on you. I’ll go back inside now,” he said in an uncharacteristically small voice, and turned back to the cafe with a large smile pasted on his face. Shuichi watched him turn around and take a step towards the door before the detective’s body finally set itself into motion and pulled Kokichi into a hug. 

Kokichi tensed for an excruciating moment before hugging Shuichi back. Shuichi tried to stroke Kokichi’s back like Kaede used to in high school after Shuichi would have a panic attack. It seemed to work, because Kokichi turned his face into the hug and trembled slightly. Shuichi’s hand made it’s way atop Kokichi’s head to pet the purple-tinged hair. He’d have to remember to take note of how soft Kokichi’s hair was. He contemplated telling Kokichi this, but the latter most likely knew already, being the person who  _ kept _ the hair so soft. Shuichi brought his thoughts away from Kokichi’s hair. He was bordering on creepy. Not that having a ‘case’ journal for somebody you only met several weeks ago wasn’t creepy. Shuichi pushed the thought out of his mind. 

Kokichi sighed into the hug before tilting his chin up enough to speak.

“Why do you smell like a fountain pen store?”

Shuichi didn’t really know  _ why _ he’d been expecting some profound words, but it took him a second to process what Kokichi was saying because of it.

“Uh, ah, I write a lot? I don’t know. Maybe I spilled ink on this jacket or something,” he said after a moment.

Kokichi laughed, a tad quieter than usual, “Oh my hell, you actually use fountain pens? That was a joke, Shumai!” Shuichi smiled evasively and looked over at the street.

“Give me your jacket then,” Kokichi said expectantly. Shuichi looked back and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why?”

Kokichi moved out of Shuichi’s hold to hit him playfully, “Don’t ask questions. If you’ve gotta know, I’m gonna burn the ink out of it. My specialty,” he pointed to himself, “trained arsonist here, y’know.”

Shuichi started a minute before recognizing Kokichi’s smirk. The detective rolled his eyes.

“Okay, what if I’m cooold?” Kokichi whined, and made grabby hands towards Shuichi’s jacket.

“Then go back inside the cafe,” Shuichi grumbled, taking the jacket off. Kokichi perked up at his words,

“Was that what I just thought I heard? No, go ahead Shumai! Have a little more backbone: It’s a nice change!”

Shuichi paused, halfway out of his jacket, “What?”

“Why, don’t stop taking the jacket off, come on, jeez!” Kokichi groaned.

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Shuichi continued.

Kokichi facepalmed, “There goes the backbone.” Shuichi blinked, holding his jacket.

“So, did you want me to take my jacket off or not?”

Kokichi made an exasperated face before answering: “No, I want your jacket still. Just, I also want you to stand up for yourself sometimes.”

“What do you mean? I do!” Shuichi protested.

Kokichi scoffed, “Yeah, okay, but it wouldn’t hurt to be a  _ little _ more confident. You’re a college grad and a super smart detective guy.” Shuichi didn’t have a response to that which wasn’t a correction of his occupation, so he just shrugged.

Kokichi pulled the jacket on. The sleeves fell very far past his hands, which he shoved into the pockets, looking for something. Shuichi just watched him do so, confused.

What exactly are you trying to find?” Shuichi asked.

A few seconds later, Kokichi straightened a little bit and pulled something out of one of the inner pockets.

“Look,” the barista held out an overflowing fountain pen. Shuichi blinked.

“Oh, crap. I forgot that was in there,” he said stupidly. Kokichi laughed at his bluntness.

“Here, I can go wash this off inside. Do you still want this pen? It seems pretty nice. I might be able to fix it for you,” Kokichi said. Shuichi nodded, still a little surprised Kokichi had actually found the fountain pen in his jacket. The purplenette gestured for Shuichi to follow him back into the cafe. Before they arrived at the counter, Shuichi realized he still had a call to make.

“Hey, Ouma-kun,” the barista looked back at Shuichi, “I need to go do something. You can uh, keep the fountain pen. Okay?”

Kokichi gave an inaccurate boy scouts’ salute and turned to walk back to the kitchen. He danced to the music a little as he walked back behind the counter. Shuichi watched the door swing closed with a smile before he exhaled in humor and shook his head. The detective walked back to his seat and grabbed his phone from his briefcase.

\----

“Hey, Amami-kun, would you be able to meet up sometime in the near future to discuss something regarding one of my cases?”

_ “Ayyy, Saihara-kun! It’s so nice to hear from you, man! I would be honored. Let me check my schedule.” _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i lowkey forgot i used the word "sniggle" while writing this for the meme and i choked while editing  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	10. analysis, and time to mullet over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rantaro arrives! Shuichi gets embarrassed. Multiple times. Gay panic, basically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoooo we're halfway done!!  
> so excited to see how yall like the way the story progresses <3

Shuichi didn’t know if the term “bombshell” could really be applied to a male, but it seemed to fit Rantaro Amami. The man looked like the kind of guy you’d find walking his little dogs on the beach and giggle over with your friends. Shuichi had never exactly done that, because Rantaro had been friendly with him in high school, but the vibe was still there. In high school, Rantaro had been the laid back ladykiller. Except he’d only ever had eyes for Kaede. In fact, Kaede was the reason Shuichi met Rantaro. The detective still felt a little awkward that Keade had ended up choosing Shuichi over Rantaro. And then she had come out as lesbian before Mr. Avocado had time to say ‘Be my Valentine?’

Hey, at least Rantaro was still friendly with him. It looked like there wasn’t much tension for Shuichi to be worried about (He was worried anyway.)

Rantaro strode into the cafe wearing a striped red and black long sleeve shirt that looked like the kind of material baby blankets were made out of, and a pair of distressed bleached jeans. He had heavily accessorized with chain necklaces, bracelets, and silver earrings. Oh, and his nose was now pierced in addition to his 5 ear rings, Shuichi noticed as the man walked over. Interesting. Not bad looking.

“Saihara, my man! How are you doing?” Rantaro said as he walked towards Shuichi with open arms.

Shuichi stood up and allowed himself to be pulled into Rantaro’s obligatory bro hug. The guy smelled like smokey cologne and avocado toast. No  _ wonder _ the ladies had been all over him. A part of Shuichi wondered why he hadn’t been fawning over Rantaro in high school as well. 

“It’s nice to see you again, Amami-kun. I’ve been doing pretty well. Cases, coffee, loner. You know who I am,” Shuichi laughed. Rantaro smiled and nodded encouragingly. Somehow, it was easier to be social around Rantaro. He just had that effect on people. People being Shuichi.

Rantaro looked over at the counter and flashed a peace sign and a smile to Kaede. Shuichi looked from Rantaro’s black painted nails to Kaede’s exasperated smile and eye-roll. If Shuichi hadn’t known that Kaede was a raging lesbian, he would have sworn she blushed. Or maybe she  _ did _ . Was it even possible for a straight man to have that kind of effect on her? Shuichi didn’t want to know.

Shuichi took his seat back at the booth and Rantaro followed suit, sitting across from the detective.

“This is a darling cafe. I can’t believe you haven’t brought me here before. Was this your little secret?” Rantaro asked, looking around the room before turning back to Shuichi and batting his eyelashes. Shuichi blushed despite himself. 

“I go here every day to wallow in caffeine and murder cases. Did you want to spend time with me during that?” Shuichi monotoned. Rantaro laughed happily.

“Yeah, yeah I get it. Alright doc, what’s the diagnosis? Why am I here? Need help burying a body?”

Shuichi raised his eyebrows and shook his head with an amused expression.

“Actually, I was working on the case report write-up earlier, and-”

A familiar voice came from behind him.

“Well  _ hello _ there Mr. Refreshing. What are you doing hanging out with our resident emo?”

Shuichi blinked before whipping around to look at Kokichi, order notepad in hand. The barista returned Shuichi’s incredulous gaze in a dramatic tenfold.

“Hey! I’m Rantaro Amami. I like your hair!” Rantaro said easily. Kokichi nodded enthusiastically.

“Thanks, thanks! So, are you Saihara’s boyfriend?” Kokichi rested his finger in front of his mouth.

Rantaro blinked while smiling at Kokichi, then looked at Shuichi, and back to the barista.

“Oh, no, no I don’t swing that way,” he chuckled and glanced at the detective, “although if I had to, Saihara-kun here would probably be my first choice.” Shuichi choked on air, and ducked his head.

Kokichi smile went slightly dangerous, “Mmm, I’m sure he would be.”

Shuichi cleared his throat, “Hm, anyway! Ouma-kun, are you here to take an order?” He looked up at Rantaro, “If you’d like anything, I’ll pay for it. I’m already in your debt for you coming here and helping me out with this.”

Rantaro waved him off, “No, no. I’m glad to be here- Anything for an old friend! Besides, I’ve been on this keto diet recently, so I couldn’t anyway. I appreciate the offer, though. Really.”

Shuichi looked back at Kokichi to thank him, and the barista wrinkled his nose at the detective furtively, as if to say, ‘This guy? Really?’

If Rantaro saw, he didn’t say anything. (Thankfully) Besides, Kokichi was walking back to the counter before the green-headed man could have even opened his mouth.

“So, I wanted to talk about the case that I’m working on. I’d say I’m mostly finished but you can’t really finish a case without knowing who did it, and all my leads seem like duds,” Shuichi sighed.

Rantaro rested his chin on his fist and pursed his lips, “Well, if you have leads you must have some evidence, yeah? As long as you give me something to work with we can talk through it.” 

Rantaro had majored in psychology, which was something nobody had really seen coming. He’d never seemed like the type to go for such a tough major, but Rantaro had ended up graduating with honors. His PhD thesis was written on serial killer motives and ideation. Shuichi hadn’t needed to talk to him about a case before, but a serial killer wasn’t something Shuichi faced every day. He wanted to solve this case before anyone else fell victim. 

Shuichi smiled and pulled up the notes he had transferred onto his computer from the journal earlier that morning. He began detailing the evidence he had gathered to Rantaro, then started on the analysis he had been able to make. 

“Hold on Saihara-kun. Sorry to interrupt, but you said the two victims were in a previous relationship, right?” Rantaro cut off Shuichi’s analytical babble.

Shuichi nodded.

“Alright, alright. So let’s pull out some things you’ve talked about. The first victim was a male. The second victim was a female. You said that there were interviews made of the family for both victims, and each individual identified sexually as straight. Right?”

Shuichi nodded again, slower this time, trying to follow.

Rantaro noticed this and laughed, “Don’t worry, I’m just repeating things you said. There’s not some underlying message for you to figure out. Don’t worry your pretty little detective head.”

Shuichi blushed, “Right, sorry.”

Rantaro smiled and continued, “The last thing I’d like to bring up is the state of the apartment after the second murder. You said it was ransacked but nothing was stolen. Was there anything interesting laying near the body?”

Shuichi thought back to the notes, “Not that I can remember. Why?”

“Alright. Here’s what I’m thinking. The general statistic for gender among serial killers is 15% female. This means that there’s a really good chance that our attacker is a male. Also, the male was killed first. This is probably a rather large assumption, but would it be completely out of the question for jealousy to be a motive?”

Shuichi’s eyebrows raised, “No, that might make a lot of sense.”

Rantaro hummed, “Yes? And why is that?”

“Because-”

A chin dropped onto Shuichi’s head and arms draped themselves over the front of his chest. Shuichi started in surprise:

“Huh?”

Shuichi watched as Rantaro fought back an amused smile.

“How’s your date going, Shumai?” Kokichi asked, smiling pleasantly at Rantaro (Not that Shuichi could see him, from the position he was sitting in.)

It was Rantaro who answered, “Hm, if I had to say Saihara-kun was in a relationship with one of us here, it probably wouldn’t be me. Would you agree, Mr…” Rantaro squinted at Kokichi’s nametag, “Ouma?”

Kokichi giggled and made a noncommittal shrug from where he was draped across the detective. Poor Shuichi was ready for the ground to swallow him up whole. The tips of his ears burned a bright red.

“Welp! I just came to say that have the rest of the day off, because I’m starting my ninja training tomorrow,” Kokichi chirped.

“Just kidding! That was a lie. Well, halfway. I do have the rest of the day off, but I’m starting my college courses tomorrow. Look at me, finally getting my life together, yeah?”

Shuichi made to respond, but the words died in his throat when Kokichi buried a kiss in Shuichi’s hair, then pushed off of him and bounced to the door. Shuichi sat frozen in place, staring ahead, while Rantaro’s face broke into a smirk of laughter as he watched Kokichi wave to Kaede before leaving. When the psychologist looked back at Shuichi, the bluenette was in the same position, still looking at the table.

“He seems to like you,” Rantaro commented, moving back to a comfortable position in his seat.

Shuichi’s head snapped up and his right hand made it’s way atop his head to touch where Kokichi had been.

“You seem to like him back,” Rantaro added nonchalantly, “Anyway, what were you saying? Or did you lose your train of thought just now? If you did it’s okay! I don’t blame you.”

Shuichi ignored the wink Rantaro threw at him.

“Ah, um. We were talking about the case. The motive, and- Oh! Right,” Shuichi looked down and focused hard at the table, trying to regain his place on the previous road of analysis.

His head snapped up as he remembered, “Jealousy! Right, maybe the attacker was an old boyfriend of the second victim?”

Rantaro nodded.

“Although, my initial thoughts on the first murder were that the victim must have known the attacker before the murder occured, or he wouldn’t have gone peacefully with the attacker. Right?”

“Yeah, I’d say that’s a reasonable conclusion. It’s significantly less common for serial killers to attack people they know at random, so that’s why I think we’re looking more at a case of a double homicide than a serial killer,” Rantaro said. Shuichi made an ‘O’ with his mouth and nodded slowly.

“I should look into the background of the first victim again. Maybe we can see if there is suspicion towards any of the people he was close with?” Shuichi said with a yawn.

Rantaro rolled his eyes at the yawn, “Alright. Maybe do that tomorrow, though. You seem really tired. Go home and relax, my friend. I’m sure your little barista there isn’t going to be too excited if you fall asleep on a date.”

Shuichi flushed and began stuttering out a protest before Rantaro silenced him with a knowing look.

“Is there anything else you want to go over? If not, I can drop you off back home,” Rantaro offered.

Shuichi put his hands up, “No, no I appreciate it but I usually take the bus to clear my head. Thank you though. For everything today, truly. It was nice to catch up.”

Rantaro nodded and stood up to stretch. Shuichi put his computer back into his briefcase before doing the same. Rantaro pulled Shuichi into another hug before mentioning that he wanted to go catch up with Kaede and walking over to the counter.

Shuichi got all the way into his apartment before realizing Kokichi still had his jacket. Why did he always forget these things?

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mmm love mr. avocado-kun  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	11. a dream sea-quence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literally what the title is. Minus the fish pun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did someone order 1k words of symbolic dreaming? if u did, hoo boy, i have GOOD news buddy!!  
> <3 enjoy, as always

_ Salty, biting ocean air whipped Shuichi’s hair around as he looked out at the ocean. The metal railing his hands were attached to was lightly covered in ocean spray, and damp to the touch. His jacket whipped around his body as he stood on top of the manmade peninsula.  _

_ Shuichi looked to his right, and saw Kokichi leaning on the railing with his forearms and watching the dark blue waves crash into each other. Shuichi was dreaming. He had to be dreaming, because there was no reason for him to be standing on a pier with Kokichi Ouma before an ocean storm.  _

_ He turned to say something to Kokichi, and the wind stole his words away as they tumbled from his mouth. Kokichi turned to him anyway, as if he had heard Shuichi speaking and the violet of his eyes reflected around Shuichi until his vision was filled with a screaming lavender and a high pitched ringing.  _

_ Then, almost as quickly as it had started, it stopped.  _

_ Shuichi felt the air tearing at his clothes and hair before he realized he was falling. It was a calm, peaceful kind of falling, but Shuichi screamed anyway.  _

_ Something large and warm thudded into his chest and Shuichi looked down to find Kokichi curled up against him, falling quietly. Shuichi gripped the smaller man’s clothes and pulled him closer out of instinct. The air around them faded into the background until Shuichi truly couldn’t tell if they were falling anymore, or just floating midair.  _

_ Shuichi tried to look down to where they were falling, but his eyes were met with a dark abyss. It sent chills down Shuichi’s spine, and he opened his mouth to ask Kokichi what was happening. Before his tongue could form any words, Kokichi’s body turned to mist and blinded Shuichi temporarily. _

_ When Shuichi was able to open his eyes again, he was laying down in a grass field. Where the ground should have been rough and itchy, it was soft and inviting. Shuichi rolled over, hoping to get some reprieve from the confusing whirlwind of scene changes. A few seconds after he settled into the grass, Shuichi heard the soft thuds of footsteps approaching him.  _

_ When Shuichi turned, he saw Kokichi walking towards him with a glass of water in his hands. He wore a simple white t-shirt, and high waisted bleached jeans that belled out at the ankles. The sun framed Kokichi’s face, and the shorter man wore a smile of complete peace. Words rose in Shuichi’s throat like bile, and he bit his lip to stop himself from telling the dream-version of Kokichi that he was beautiful. Kokichi arrived at where Shuichi was laying and crouched down in the grass. He swept Shuichi’s cowlick out of the way and pressed a hand to Shuichi’s forehead. Shuichi watched Kokichi’s lips move with no sound coming out. _

_ ‘I can’t hear you,’ Shuichi wanted to say, but his mouth wouldn’t move. He sat up once Kokichi removed his hand. Shuichi watched Kokichi repeat what he had said earlier, carefully reading his lips. _

_ ‘What are you doing all the way out here,’ Shuichi felt him ask. When the detective looked back up, Kokichi was smiling, all the way to his eyes. The word vomit threatened to come up again, and Shuichi looked anywhere else but Kokichi’s face. He felt Kokichi thread his hands through Shuichi’s free one to pull the detective up. Shuichi allowed himself to be helped up, holding the water glass with his free hand so that it didn’t spill.  _

_ Kokichi wrapped his arms around Shuichi’s neck and held on tightly, while Shuichi stiffened. Why was he dreaming about Kokichi in such a romantic light? This was almost embarrassing. _

_ If Shuichi were able to squeak, he definitely would have when he felt Kokichi start to trace his jawline and neck with his fingertips. Shuichi looked down at the shorter man, who was staring up at Shuichi with pure, unguarded adoration. Shuichi figured he should probably stop staring at Kokichi like a deer in headlights and respond in kind to the dream. Not that Shuichi was actually worried about what dream-Kokichi thought of him.  _

_ Shuichi just didn’t want to let any version of Kokichi down. _

_ ‘Why did you come all the way out here. Where am I?’ Shuichi tried to communicate in words, thoughts, feelings. _

_ Dream-Kokichi seemed to get the message. He let go of Shuichi’s neck and instead held Shuichi’s hand to pull him along through the soft-grass field. Shuichi let himself be guided through the bursts of green, colorful flowers, and quiet noises of woodland creatures. As the pair walked through the golden-lit field framed with brightly colored pink-and-green trees, a small house came into view on the edge of the field.  _

_ Shuichi’s breath caught in his throat. _

_ ‘Do I live there?’ his mind reeled. Kokichi looked at him with an amused expression and rolled his eyes as if Shuichi had made a joke about something extremely obvious. _

_ The house was more of a cottage, and flowers and bushes grew around it like a waterfall of nature. The path leading up to the house was gravel and framed with roses, poppies, daisies, tulips, and wildflowers. Kokichi slowed down enough so that he and Shuichi were just walking with their hands connected. _

_ ‘This is our house, you big dummy,’ Kokichi seemed to say. Shuichi’s eyes widened and he looked at Kokichi in surprise. Kokichi grinned and gave a little wave before skipping up the steps and disappearing into the house. Shuichi’s eyes caught on the silver band on Kokichi’s ring-finger as it glinted in the sun.  _

_ ‘Wait,’ Shuichi wanted to say, ‘I still have more questions.’ _

_ The detective sped up as he made his way toward the front door where Kokichi had disappeared into the house. Shuichi turned the handle and stepped his foot into the house, and the world pulled and stretched until he couldn’t tell what the original image of the dream looked like.  _

_ ‘No,’ he thought desperately, ‘No, don’t leave. I still have more questions!’ _

Shuichi woke up with a start, and didn’t fall back asleep for a long time.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHEW finally shuichi is getting less dense (maybe)  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	12. turtle-y out of character

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi does some work. Then he talks to friends. Then he talks to someone who isn't really his friend and rather more of an acquaintance but needs his help anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo... FOUR chapters? damn bro we're wildin' tonight o.o  
> ok this is the last one for today but i should be more motivated to update now that the fun part has begun <3  
> enjoy!11!1!

Six hours of sleep in total wasn’t much, but compared to the amounts Shuichi had been getting the past week, it was enough that he was able to walk through the cafe door with a confident smile. Maybe not a  _ confident _ smile, but a smile. Or a kind of awkward upturning of the lips. Regardless, Shuichi felt pretty good.

Except for the fact that he remembered every last detail of his dream (nightmare?) the previous night and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Thankfully, Kokichi’s unsuspecting face wasn’t there to greet him upon Shuichi’s breathless arrival at the cafe. Kaede waved at him from behind the counter, and Shuichi tipped his hat down at her.

“Hey! You look pretty well-rested. Does this mean you’re done with the case?” Kaede asked as she picked up a cup to write Shuichi’s order.

“Ah, no. I took Rantaro’s advice and took a break last night. I’m hoping to revamp my analysis before I take another look into the victims’ family interviews again,” Shuichi said, compulsively looking around for Kokichi.

Kaede handed him his coffee after a few minutes of comfortable silence filled by the whirring of various machines. 

“Here ya go. Good luck with the work, sounds like there’s quite a bit of it.”

Shuichi huffed a laugh, “Yeah, there always is. Thanks.” Kaede winked and Shuichi turned around to walk to his regular booth. So far: no sign of Kokichi. Not that Shuichi was actively thinking about him. Actually, it was sort of lucky that Kokichi wasn’t there, because if he had been, he would have known something was up with the way Shuichi was acting. Shuichi was sure of it. So it was a good thing Kokichi was somewhere doing something, whatever it was. Shuichi didn’t miss him.

Kokichi was probably taking another day off for college, anyway. Kaede didn’t seem too worried. Shuichi took a sip of his black coffee before pulling out his computer. Taking what Rantaro said into consideration, Shuichi began to rewrite his analysis.

\----

By noon, Shuichi had a good half of his report rewritten with Rantaro’s advice taken into account. Pulling his eyes away from the computer, he stood up to stretch. Shuichi walked over the counter to talk a little with Kaede, when he noticed a semi familiar figure standing across from the register.

“Oh, hey Iruma-san, was it?” Shuichi said as he approached the tall blonde woman.

Miu turned around and smirked.

“Well if it isn’t Mr. Cockslut! Oh wait- that’s the little purple haired shit. You’re Mr. Virgin, aren’t you?”

Shuichi tried swallowing but ended up choking on air for a good 15 seconds after hearing Miu’s greeting. Miu threw her head back and laughed before she went back to ordering. Shuichi took that as his cue to leave. Maybe he could talk to Kaede later. Shuichi decided to take a walk outside the cafe for a little while to clear his head (and maybe his lungs).

The sky was bright blue and dotted with cotton candy white clouds. The cars drove by peacefully and Shuichi listened to the ambient noise of the little city. His mind drifted back to his nightmare. Had it truly been a nightmare? Shuichi’s arms suddenly felt like lead. He replayed the dream in his head as he walked to the corner of the street and turned back around to walk back to the coffee shop.

As he passed by the flower shop, a woman rushed out with a bundle of flowers in her arms. Shuichi didn’t realize she was coming his way until they crashed into each other, sending the bundle of flowers flying. Shuichi reached for the flowers before they could hit the ground and awkwardly held them out to the lady with a pained smile.

“I’m very sorry, ma’am. I should have been paying attention to where I was going,” Shuichi stuttered. The lady waved him off with an ‘it’s alright, I was hurrying anyway.’ Shuichi dipped his head, and when he looked back up, he could have sworn the flower bouquet was composed of red spider lilies. It must have been a trick of the light, however, because after he blinked, the flowers were just red tulips. Whatever red tulips meant, Shuichi was sure it was better than red spider lilies.

Shuichi hurried back towards the cafe, uninclined to continue thinking about his possible feelings for a certain barista or make any other social screw-ups on the street. The door gave a familiar jingle as he reentered, and Shuichi let out the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. 

Upon sitting back down at his seat, Shuichi reopened his computer. He scrolled back up to the top of his analysis to regain his train of thought.

About halfway through his reading session, someone tapped his shoulder. Shuichi lurched forward and looked to his left, half hoping for it to be Kokichi. Instead, it was Kaito.

“Kaito, hey!” Shuichi started. Maki sat down across from him, and Kaito followed her.

Kaito frown-smiled and shrugged, “So, how’s my favorite guy been hangin’?” Maki nodded along.

“I’ve been pretty good. I talked to Amami about the possible motives for the case I’m working on, but I just wanted to catch up with you guys,” Shuichi said.

Maki responded this time, “We’ve also been doing well. Actually, Kaito and I were looking at starter houses earlier this week.”

“Ohhh! That’s awesome, you guys! It’s so nice to see you actually doing the things you used to joke about in high school, huh?” Shuichi teased. Kaito laughed and Maki smiled while looking down at her hands.

“Read any good books lately, sidekick?” Kaito asked. Shuichi laughed at the old nickname.

“Ahh, actually yes. I picked some that were on my list up from the library late yesterday and read them. It was kind of nice to take a break from work.”

Maki cut in, “Have you been following Dangan Ronpa recently?” Shuichi raised his eyebrows and looked over at her.

The detective hummed, “Mm, I actually haven’t. Jeez, they must be on the 53rd season by now, huh?”

“I haven’t been following it either,” Maki admitted, “And I don’t think Kaito has been. Those were the good times, huh? Watching murders on TV? Jeez.”

Shuichi scratched his head and laughed a little, “Yeah, now I’m the one solving the murders, y’know?”

Kaito laughed, “Hey, hey you’d  _ definitely _ be the protagonist. No doubt about it. The Ultimate Private Investigator. Or Ultimate Detective! Who cares about technicalities in the Dangan Ronpa universe, yeah?” 

Maki grunted in agreement, and Shuichi shook his head as he giggled.

The trio talked for a while longer, until the stress of Shuichi’s morning faded into background noise, and the sun slipped from it’s regal height of noon to the tipsy tilt of early afternoon.

Right as Shuichi was about to start packing up for the day with Maki and Kaito, Kaito’s eyes shifted to something behind Shuichi.

“Hey, Shu, do you know where your boyfriend is?” Kaede asked, walking up.

Shuichi pressed his mouth into a line in attempt to stop blushing, “He isn’t my boyfriend.” With that, he turned back to his computer to continue reading.

“No okay, Shuichi, I’m actually serious. Have you seen him recently? Were you guys together last night or something?”

If Shuichi was blushing before, he was a firetruck now.

“No?? Why would I- why would he be with me last night? He and I- We arent… No, I  _ haven’t _ seen him,” Shuichi managed. Kaede blinked at him. Twice.

“Wow. I don’t even  _ wanna _ know. Miu was just wondering, because she apparently tried to contact him last night and he hasn’t responded since,” she sighed.

Shuichi hummed, “Yeah, that’s weird, but I don’t know.” Kaede thanked him anyway and left for the counter again.

Not even five more seconds passed before someone fwoomped down into the seat across from him. Shuichi looked up, startled.

“Oh, hello Iruma-san. I didn’t realize you were still here,” Shuichi said politely, “Is there something you need?”

Miu picked her tooth with one of her sharp fingernails, “Mm, I haven’t been able to contact Kokichi since yesterday. Have you seen him?”

“Oh, no I haven’t, sorry. Kaede just asked the same thing,” Shuichi said, a little confused.

Miu turned back to Shuichi after acknowledging Maki and Kaito and frowned, “Okay. I’m only asking because,” she sighed, “We’ve had plans for me to come visit him at work today for about a week now. And now he’s MIA.”

Shuichi’s eyebrows furrowed, “And you said he isn’t answering your calls?”

“Yeah, I called him last night, and I texted him several times today, but there’s been no response,” Miu said.

Shuichi reached for his phone and clicked through his contacts, “Here, I’ll call him right now. Maybe he’ll pick up for-”

“-his boyfriend?” Miu cut in with a grin. 

Kaito laughed from where he was leaning against the booth, “Hey, that’s what we said too!” Maki’s face said ‘Leave me out of this.’

Shuichi sighed deeply and decided to forgo responding to either of them in favor of putting the call on speaker-phone.

It rang once, twice, thrice, then a beep sounded. Miu’s smile dropped and she looked at the phone in Shuichi’s hand.

~ _ We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again.~ _

Shuichi blinked, processing the information. Kaito and Maki just looked at each other.Miu was the first to react by slamming her hand on the table.

“What the fuck? Why would he just block us?” 

Shuichi swallowed and ended the call before speaking.

“Uh, Miu? I don’t think that’s how the phone behaves when you block someone. I actually think his phone  _ was _ disconnected somehow. I mean… unless… Has this ever happened before?”

Miu looked back at the detective and scoffed, “Pff, ‘course not. Kokichi always answers his phone. Unless he’s sleeping- which he  _ isn’t _ right now, because he said he’d meet me here. He probably got like, murdered or something.”

Shuichi’s heart pounded irrationally. Kokichi probably wasn’t dead, Miu was just being facetious. 

“Do you think he’d mind if we checked his apartment?” Shuichi asked. Miu pursed her lips and looked up.

“He probably wouldn’t mind if  _ you _ went, since he’s so desperate to be dicked down by you, but I feel like I should probably go check the college or something,” she said finally. 

Shuichi nodded, “Alright.”

“Give me your phone though, I want to have your number in case one of us finds him. Not because I’m into you though, I already have a boyfriend,” Miu added airily. Shuichi handed over his phone and tapped his thumbs together while he waited. Miu handed back his phone after a few moments, and Kaito tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey man, Maki and I can drive you there as long as you tell us where he lives. It’ll probably be faster than taking the train.”

Shuichi smiled gratefully, “That would be pretty great. Thank you, Kaito.”

“Alright, virgin, I’ll see ya in a bit. I’m sure the midget is fine,” Miu yawned.

Shuichi nodded grimly, “Yeah, I’ll see you.” Miu stood up and paused before she turned to walk out the door.

“Okay. I don’t wanna stress you out, but if I’m gonna be honest, this has never happened before. This is completely out of character for him, and I’m actually really fuckin’ worried. So, I’m putting trust in you to help figure this out,” Miu said quietly.

Shuichi narrowed his eyes at the table and nodded firmly.

“I haven’t known him for as long as you have, but I can tell that something’s off, too,” he looked back up at Miu, “We’ll find him, I promise.”

Miu took a deep breath, and nodded on the shaky exhale before turning around and walking briskly out of the cafe. Shuichi watched her go and then turned back to Kaito and Maki.

“I guess it's time to go play Sherlock, then.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *smirks* y'all ready for what's to come?  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	13. whaley, this is screwing with my head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apartments are visited. Evidence is discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UHHHH HEY its been a while BUT! the good news is i'm releasing the last 8 chapters right now. like. right now. ok! enjoy!! <3

Normally, in a situation like this- well. Shuichi hadn’t ever been in a situation like this. It was one of those weird, limbo-esque moments in which he wasn’t  _ literally _ expecting Kokichi’s apartment to be in disarray, but the worst-case scenario was all he had thought about on the drive there. And of course, Shuichi was no Makoto Naegi.

The first thing Shuichi noticed was that the door was unlocked. The second was the glass in the entryway. It had been scattered around the walls and the edges of the doorway, little pieces of glass looking at-  _ mocking _ Shuichi’s face, flushed from running. Kaito and Maki were shortly behind him. Shuichi and Maki were silent, and the only acknowledgement from Kaito was a sharp breath out. Shuichi gingerly stepped into Kokichi Ouma’s apartment and resorted to-

“Ouma-kun?” Shuichi cupped his hands around his mouth and called. He cringed at the unsteadiness of his voice, and even more at the lack of response.

\- seeking the irrational kind of comfort that people often seek when missing another. Inhaling steadily, Shuichi walked forward towards the broken frame on the ground. His eyebrows furrowed, and as he turned the frame over in his hands, Shuichi’s eyes flicked to the rest of the photos on the wall.  _ Photos on the wall. _ Shuichi looked back down at the floor. All of the glass (there seemed to be mounds of it) had come from a single picture. Shuichi tensed in recognition of the photo. The brown-haired girl Kokichi had told Shuichi a little about after the day in the park smiled up from the frame in Shuichi’s hands. Shuichi swallowed and carefully took the paper out of the frame to keep.

“Uh, Shuichi, dude, should we really be tampering with this stuff? It kinda seems important. Evidence, crime scene, y’know,” Kaito called from where Maki and he were still standing in the doorway. Maki was glaring at the state of the apartment, but turned to look slightly incredulously at Kaito at his question.

Shuichi scratched his head, “Well, Maki is an officer, and I’m not going to touch a bunch of stuff. I just wanted to take this photo in case Kokichi wants it later. Maki, do you have any objections?”

Maki shook her head.

Kaito stared for a moment then nodded, seemingly having gathered himself/his thoughts. Shuichi turned back to the apartment and walked a few steps in before turning to Kaito and Maki again. 

“Kaito, call the police. Maki, I know you want to help me look, so come on in. They can’t get on our ass for doing our job.”

Maki raised her eyes slightly at the cuss word but stepped into the apartment anyway. Shuichi turned around once more and walked towards the kitchen. A faint light came through the doorway leading out of the kitchen, and low-volume music drifted to Shuichi. He followed his senses through the kitchen which had also been ransacked, and found himself standing in front of the television. Hajime Hinata’s desperate face stared at Shuichi from the screen, and the detective couldn’t move. Of course, Hajime wasn’t really looking at  _ him _ . Shuichi’s mouth went bitter as the screen switched from Hajime’s broken, horrified expression to Nagito’s lifeless body. The camera focused in on Nagito’s face, frozen in last-minute pain and terror, and Shuichi tore his eyes away from the screen, breathing hard. His skin buzzed near-painfully and he rubbed at his eyes shakily before freezing and looking back at the screen. Shuichi’s panicked brain went into overdrive. Since when did Dangan Ronpa reruns play at 1:23pm? Spoiler alert, they  _ didn’t _ . They played at 8pm.

_ They played at 8pm. _

_ 8pm... _

_ Huh? _

_ 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm- _

“ _ Shuichi!” _ An irritated voice shot like a bullet through the detective’s head. He snapped his head to attention and saw Maki standing to his left with her hands cupped around her mouth. Shuichi blinked hard and shook his head.

“Sorry, I just got lost in thought. Did you figure something out?” he asked.

Maki handed him a smartphone, “Maybe. I found something on the floor near the television; this phone has clearly been jailbroken.” 

Shuichi blinked again, wondering why he hadn’t seen Maki pick the phone up if she’d been directly in front of him while doing it.

“Maki.” She raised her eyebrows.

Shuichi took a deep breath, “Actually, Kaito?”

“Yeah bud?” Came the distant reply. 

Shuichi cupped his hands and yelled, “Could you look up the Danganronpa airtime schedule for this week and last week please?” He turned back to Maki and swallowed. The three murders were two connected. Serial killer, his mind supplied.

“Okay, just hear me out out on this,” he started.

\----

“And I know it sounds crazy. I know. But I really think it’s the same person. I just don’t know enough about Ouma-kun to understand why he’d be a victim.”

“Or the culprit,” Maki said finally. Shuichi looked back up quickly.

“What do you mean? You think Ouma-kun is the…”

Maki gave a shrug that plainly said, ‘we have to consider anything.’ A sour feeling wormed it’s way into Shuichi’s stomach. Before he could reply, Kaito came into the room.

“Hey, I thought it was just easier to come in. I don’t know what this has to do with anything, but for some reason the episodes of season two are being aired at times that will correlate the deaths of the victims with the actual time that they died in the game. Does that make sense? The article did a weird job of explaining it,” the astronaut said tightly.

Shuichi nodded slowly and glanced at his watch, “So I’m assuming Nagito Komaeda died in game sometime around 1:20pm, which means the show started airing at some weird time like 12:47 just to line it up,” When Kaito looked up seeming partially confused, Shuichi gestured to the TV with his free hand. 

“So that confirms it,” Maki said quietly.

Kaito looked back from the TV with wide eyes and spoke slowly, “Confirms what?”

Shuichi took another breath and shuddered at the low temperature in the apartment, “The two murder cases I worked on prior to now were committed by what looks like the same person. Their signature of sorts was to leave Danganronpa reruns playing. I don’t know if this is a larger serial killer or if they are just getting started now, but I believe it would be best to end them earlier. I know that the first case I was looking at - the cold case - was connected to the second case. I believe the murderer was an ex-lover of the second victim. I just have no idea how Kokichi is connected. Maki found this phone on the ground-”

“And this computer playing the Danganronpa reruns behind the TV, connected by a cable.”

“What?” Shuichi looked over to see Maki disconnect the cable from the TV, which returned to a black screen. She walked over holding the computer.

“Whoever did this definitely had Danganronpa playing for a reason. It looks like they  _ wanted _ us to find this. And the phone. This is really weird.”

Shuichi scrubbed at his eyes and froze, then looked up at Maki with huge eyes. She narrowed her eyes and lowered her chin. Kaito watched their silent exchange with furrowed eyebrows. Shuichi handed Maki the jailbroken phone and pulled something out of his pocket while Maki started looking through the phone. 

Maki spoke up before Shuichi could fully complete his thought.

“I found a text conversation and a profile photo.”

“Let me see,” Shuichi said quickly, putting the picture back in his pocket for the time being. Maki was already handing him the phone.

The text message string was barely fifteen messages long, and it featured an unknown number talking to an uncharacteristically wary Kokichi.

_ [12:03pm] Sent: Do you know where Dakota went? _

_ [12:04pm] Unsaved: Sorry, I don’t know who this is. _

_ [12:04pm] Sent: I asked you a question, KOKICHI OUMA. _

_ [12:07pm] Unsaved: I don’t know how you got my number, and I don’t want to. Please leave me alone. _

_ [12:07pm] Sent: Answer the question and we do not have an issue. Or is that a lie? You’d know about that, right? _

_ [12:12pm] Sent: Hey boss, you gonna respond? Or am I going to have to go after a different member of your precious group? :) _

_ [12:12pm] Unsaved: I don’t know where Dakota went. Nobody does. Please leave me alone. _

_ [12:13pm] Sent: See? That wasn’t so hard. Don’t put your phone down. Don’t close out of this text message. _

_ [12:14pm] Unsaved: You can’t scare me with some cheap trick. _

_ [12:14pm] Sent: [Attachment: 1 Image] _

_ [12:15pm] Sent: Ah ah, wouldn’t calling the cops entail getting out of your text messages? _

_ [12:16pm] Sent: Are you still sitting there like a good boy? _

_ [1:15pm] Unsaved:  _ _ XY°N, XY°E _

“What the fuck is this?” Shuichi said in alarm. His shoulders had scrunched up in tension. Maki shrugged and took the phone from Shuichi to begin tapping through buttons. Shuichi ran his tongue over his teeth and inhaled through his nose.

“Shuichi. I found the Apple ID on the phone,” Maki said calmly. Shuichi took the phone from her again and squinted at the tiny picture. When his eyes focused, he nearly dropped the phone. Shuichi wordlessly began to pace around the apartment. Kaito watched him with an expression of alarm, and Maki just turned to look around the room peacefully. In less than a minute, Shuichi was back in the room with Kaito and Maki.

“It’s only this picture,” the detective said breathlessly, and tore the paper he had pocketed earlier out of his slacks. Shuichi swallowed in response to Maki and Kaito’s slightly confused looks, and continued.

“This was the only picture on the ground. You both saw the glass in the entryway. This is the  _ only one. _ Look at the Apple ID. Look at the  _ picture _ . It’s the girl in the Apple ID.”

Kaito gasped dramatically, startling Shuichi.

“Shuichi, bro, isn’t that the murderer then?”

Maki slapped Kaito on the arm. Hard.

“W-What? There’s no, uh, Kaito, there’s no body. Ouma-kun isn’t  _ dead _ ,” Shuichi’s voice broke off on the last word. Kaito looked at Maki with wide eyes and then back at Shuichi.

“No, oh jeez, sorry man. All I meant was, since this is a serial killer, there’s just the possibility that- but we found some- and the whole apartment- so realistically he’s probably- actually, I’m just really proud of y-”

This time, Maki fully slapped Kaito across the face. The astronaut didn’t rebuke her. Shuichi hardly noticed over the ringing in his ears. Kokichi wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead. Why, realistically, in a situation like this, the victim wouldn’t be dead-

“Hostage,” Shuichi choked out. Kaito and Maki’s gazes snapped to him.

Shuichi cleared his throat too hard and continued, “He’s probably- There’s too much set up here that the culprit wanted us to find- they… they  _ want _ something from us. They have to. Can we go back to my apartment? I need my notes.”

Maki nodded and walked towards the door. Shuichi and Kaito followed close behind, and the latter slung his arm around the former’s shoulder in a gesture of attempted comfort.

“Hey, man, I’m really sorry this is all happening. I was under the impression you didn’t really do personal cases like this, so if you want to hand it over to another detective or something-” Kaito stopped when he saw the looks Maki and Shuichi were giving him. The trio walked down the apartment complex hall.

“Maki, you have your computer with you, right?” Shuichi asked quickly. Maki nodded at Shuichi.

“It’s in the car. I’ll have Kaito run and get it when we get to your apartment.”

As Kaito pressed the button on the elevator, Shuichi dug his nails into his palms in an attempt to ground himself.

“Hey. Dumbass,” Maki said. Kaito made a half attempt to look at her before realizing her words were directed at Shuichi.

“Yeah?” Shuichi said, barely hearing her.

Maki paused for emphasis, “He’s going to be okay. We’re all on your team.”

“Yeah,” Shuichi swallowed and nodded his head.

“Breathe,” Maki said in a voice that was nearly as soft as Maki Harukawa could go. The deep breath Shuichi took seemed to satisfy Maki for the time being.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shuichi rn: drink ice coffie, *paneck ateck*  
> i hope this was a clear chapter and not confusing. the text message string was on a phone that ISNT kokichi's, that's why it didn't say sent before his texts, but rather after the person using that phone's  
> <3  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open for requests or anything else: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	14. shell shocking findings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi takes a look into the past. And then takes action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> number two out of eight heheheh BD hope y'all are ready  
> <3

Kaito arrived back at Shuichi’s apartment to find Maki sitting on the couch watching Shuichi, who was thumbing through multiple notebooks. Kaito pulled the computer out of the case and handed it to Maki before kissing the top of her head. Maki blushed and opened the computer without a single flicker in her stony expression. Kaito looked back at Shuichi, who’s breath was coming way faster and shallower than it should have been. The astronaut walked over and sat down crosslegged in front of Shuichi. The detective didn’t even look up from his work. Kaito pulled the notebook out of Shuichi’s hand and held it away. Shuichi looked up indignantly and reached for the notebook, but Kaito shook his head.

“You need to calm down man,” he said. Shuichi blinked before crumpling in on himself. The detective opened his mouth and closed it a few times before his breath hitched and he began talking rapidly.

“I thought I had everything about this case figured out, but it feels like whoever is behind it just keeps adding layers, and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do, and now it’s spread to somebody that I care about more than I expected to, and I keep going in between feeling terrible for dragging him into this, and feeling terrified that he might be the one behind this, because in both situations it’s a worst case scenario, and I’m just completely lost in a professional sense which  _ doesn’t _ make sense, because I’m supposed to be this detective that always knows what to do, but I’m  _ not _ that person that everyone thinks I should be, and it’s the worst thing ever, because I can never live up to what people want from me, and I’m probably going to fail and lose someone that I suddenly can’t imagine life without.”

Kaito nodded through Shuichi’s entire rant and smiled sadly when he gasped for breath at the end.

“Shit, man, you’re totally in love with him,” Kaito said. If Maki had been any closer, she would have kicked Kaito in the head, but instead had to settle for throwing a pillow at the back of his head.

Shuichi laughed humorlessly, and Maki hissed something that sounded suspiciously like ‘not the time,’ at Kaito.

“Okay, sorry. I’ll be real. You need to calm the hell down. How am I supposed to work when my sidekick is freaking out?”

Shuichi’s eyes flicked back up to Kaito, who tilted his head to the side slightly.

“How are you going to help him if you can barely hold your notebook without shaking? By not letting  _ us _ help  _ you _ , you’re making this worse. You either focus or hand the case over to people who can handle it impersonally. If you want to figure out what is going on, you need to put aside your feelings and understand that this case has one solution that isn’t going to change, no matter what Ouma’s world looks like right now, or how many chances you had to tell him how you felt but didn’t. Okay? Suck it up, detective. This is  _ your _ case.”

Shuichi didn’t move for about five seconds after Kaito’s speech, and Maki looked like she was caught between wanting to murder Kaito and pat him on the back in appreciation.

“Okay,” he finally said, calming down. Kaito nodded and got up to look at what Maki was doing on the computer. Shuichi read through his case notes as fast as possible, with Kokichi’s case notebook tucked under his leg. After a few moments, he got up to grab his laptop. Shuichi sat down in his office chair and squinted at his computer screen before typing “Kokichi Ouma” into the search bar. A couple dozen pages blinked back at him after the search. Huh. Who’d have thought Kokichi Ouma was such a popular name? Shuichi began scrolling through the pages with no luck before pulling out his phone. He dialed Miu’s number and brought the phone to his ear with his left hand and his thumb to his mouth with his right.

“You find him?”

Miu answered and there was no insult, no hello, just desperation.

“Ah, no. We’re looking into it. His apartment was trashed and it seems like someone has him at a different location. Don’t worry, we’re on the case. Do you know the names of the schools he attended or the one he is currently attending?”

“What?”

“Miu, I know this is scary. I  _ know-” _

“ _ Do _ you know,  _ Shithara _ ? Are you seriously as worried about this as I am? Because it doesn’t seem like you are. Kokichi might be  _ dead _ , okay? I’m worried. I’ve known him for years and this has never happened. You can’t just sit here and act like he’s okay and you’re going to solve this in five minutes. I want my best friend back. Do you even care about him?”

“Miu, take a deep breath. I need you to calmly answer my question.”

“First I want you to answer mi-”

Maki pulled the phone out of Shuichi’s hand.

“Listen,” Maki snarled into the receiver, “I get that you’re best fucking buddies with Ouma, but my best friend was having a panic attack over him sixty seconds ago, and we  _ just _ got him calmed down enough to continue working with focus. If you are going to be a bitch to someone who’s almost caved mentally because he cares about Ouma so much, I will be the one to answer your question. We have not found him. We found a text message string from a hostile stranger who knew his location, a trashed apartment, and a connection to a serial killer. That is all we know and that is all the time I have. If we spend any more time on this call than necessary, Ouma’s position will go from possibly compromised to  _ probably _ compromised. That is how a hostage situation works, if this is one.”

Shuichi and Miu both whimpered softly for different reasons, and Maki wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“He attended primary school at the Jabberwock County orphanage, and is currently enrolled at Towa Community College. Please find him,” Miu said, pacified.

“We will. Thank you,” Maki replied stiffly.

“And tell Saihara I’m sorry. Please,” Miu added quietly.

Maki glanced over at Shuichi who looked up from his search for Towa Community College to nod with a soft but genuine smile.

“I think he knows, Iruma,” Maki said. The end of the call was drowned out by the ringing in Shuichi’s ears. Shuichi cracked his shaking hands and set himself to dig through years community and personal records. 

Five minutes into Shuichi’s search, Kaito made a noise that caused Shuichi to look up abruptly.

“That looks like the Apple ID picture, yikes. That’s kinda weird, haha,” Kaito said absentmindedly. 

“What does?” Shuichi half-shouted. Maki looked between the computer screen and Kaito for a few seconds, stunned, before turning her computer to show Shuichi. The victim profile shot of the second murder shone back at Shuichi’s expression, which rivalled Maki’s. 

“Why do you guys look like that?” Kaito asked, looking between them.

“Maki,” Shuichi practically buzzed in realization, “the mask. The cosplay mask. The one they couldn’t  _ place.”  _ Shuichi held out the picture from Kokichi apartment, featuring Kokichi and the brown haired girl. Dakota. Holding a  _ mask. _

Maki blinked once, twice, then grabbed Kaito’s face to kiss him straight on the lips. Kaito went beet red and Shuichi laughed joyously at their mini-victory. 

“There are only records of a Dakota Goto until 11th grade,” Shuichi whispered in awe.

“Name change. The second victim was named Ayumi Kondo,” Maki said immediately. Shuichi nodded and pressed ‘Enter’ on his records search. He was looking for someone that had been in contact with Dakota from high school until her death. 

“I’ll look at social media,” Maki said, already scrolling through different Instagram accounts. 

Shuichi looked up briefly, “Look on the phone.” Maki nodded and picked up the jailbroken phone.

Shuichi swallowed and opened a tab that he’d had sitting open for a few minutes. Scrolling through Kokichi’s personal information felt sort of terrible, impersonal, and  _ final _ . Shuichi tried to not think about it as he looked through Kokichi’s baseline marks: infractions, education, residence. According to Miu, he had attended school at an orphanage, but the records told Shuichi that Kokichi had also belonged to a foster home. Shuichi scrolled down and saw the amount of times Child Support Services had been called. Clicking on the reports, Shuichi’s stomach wrung itself out. 

Pictures of a younger Kokichi attempting to smile bravely, covered in bruises, cuts, and matted hair sat on Shuichi’s screen. The mother of the foster home had multiple accounts that were clearly lies about the situation, but not refutable due to lack of hard evidence. Shuichi wanted to break his computer upon reading the multitudes of statements from Kokichi’s ‘parent’. 

After seven years of living in a foster home, Kokichi had gone off record for six entire months. 

Shuichi reread the information on the screen three times, and didn’t process it until the fourth. Six  _ months _ ?

Shuichi scrolled down more and read for a total of thirty seconds before having to set his computer aside and bite his hand.

Kokichi’s report of his rape turned Shuichi’s stomach, but the thing that burned clearly in Shuichi’s mind: case overturned on event of eyewitness account being the only form of evidence.

They hadn’t even taken it to  _ court _ . How could they, with no true profile of the victim? Shuichi wanted to stand up and walk away, but forced himself to pick the computer back up, nausea swirling in his stomach. 

Kokichi had been returned to his original foster care home after the sixth months, and no Child Support reports had been filed for the rest of his tenancy, which had, admittedly, been less than a year. After that, it showed the reports of Kokichi living in two apartment complexes: one that had been lived in for about a year, and the next, his current apartment. Shuichi clicked back to his infraction reports and read through years of minor infractions committed with a gang called ‘D.I.C.E’. Apparently it had been a small group of orphanage kids that banded together to pull harmless pranks around the community. Nothing too illegal, but just enough to be noticed. The list of run-ins ended abruptly in Kokichi’s junior year of high school. Most likely when Dakota left, Shuichi recognized. The detective still didn’t know  _ why _ Dakota had left. Now they knew that she was crucial to the case, figuring out her disappearance became much more important. Shuichi wracked his brain for bits of his conversation with Kokichi on their day out. 

_...If I weren’t gay I might have loved her in that way, y’know? Although, she was really involved with her girlfriend. Regardless, she meant a lot to me, I guess...  _

_...Her girlfriend always seemed off to me. We just, never heard from her again...  _

_...I’m barely in touch with any of the other members of our high school gang, but knowing that I couldn’t contact her if I tried just hurts really terribly… _

Shuichi opened Dakota’s residency records and began to read. Six months after her disappearance, she had checked into a hotel under her real name. Only a couple months after that, the hotel had been checked out of, and the next residency found was under the same name for only two months. Her records cut off abruptly after that. Shuichi pulled up Ayumi Kondo’s records and scrolled through years of fabrication, trying to date-match the hotel switch. After a few minutes, Shuichi found it. Same hotel, same room, different name. The name stayed like that for almost two years before it ended. After that, there was about a three year gap in her residency report. Seriously, how had they missed this? Shuichi typed in the hotel residency records and waited for the page to load. Shuichi clicked around with shaking fingers before he found the date search. The records loaded up pretty quickly, and Shuichi found the matching room easily. Two years after the name of the room had been changed, it switched to ‘Mono Kuma.’ Shuichi blinked. An allusion to Danganronpa? Shuichi blinked, harder. An allusion to  _ Danganronpa? _ Checking the check-in history, there had been two people checked into the hotel. 

Shuichi opened his mouth to ask Maki if she’d found anything about a girlfriend, but before he could say anything, Maki was speaking.

“I found an AnonymousQ account registered under the same number as a contact titled ‘Tsumugi S’ on the phone.” 

Shuichi looked up from his computer at Maki and Kaito, “Yeah, I just found hotel records for two people, registered under the name ‘Mono Kuma.’”

“That’s the username of the account. Sort of. The user is mono.kuma.53. The biography just says ‘TS.’ It looks like they’ve been posting for a long time. Since a little over a year ago. It wouldn’t seem all that weird if the circumstances weren’t like this.”

Shuichi nodded, “The ‘TS’ could stand for Tsumugi S, like we saw in the contact information. Let’s take a look, I guess?”

Maki nodded, and Shuichi sat down on her other side, across from where Kaito was quietly watching the whole exchange.

Maki scrolled to the first post and clicked it.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i hope u guys liked this one!  
> \----  
> my tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> my ask box is always open for requests or anything else: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	15. bait out, trap set

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi figures it out! And we bring you a quick interlude from our sponsors. Sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mmm yum a short lil one! kinda important doe  
> hope y'all like <3

AnonymousQ wasn’t an overly creepy website. Sure, there were some people that signed up for it expecting messages on a certain topic but were instead assaulted by hundreds of thirsty fan messages, but that wasn’t a  _ huge _ subset of users. This one account in particular seemed to have a following just for Danganronpa content. The account owner seemed to write a lot of little headcanons about characters and generally make extra content regarding Danganronpa. If Shuichi didn’t suspect the owner of being a murderer and a kidnapper, he might have been entertained by the person’s account. 

Maki cleared her throat and started to read the most recent post:

**_Anonymous asked:_ ** _ what’s ur love life like lolol u seem dope _

|

|

|

**_@mono.kuma.53:_ ** _ Hi anon! This is a funny question, actually. I do have someone special in my life. :) We’ve been on break for almost a year now, but I know she still loves me. She’s probably avoiding me because her new boyfriend asked her to. I’m sure he’s just jealous and uncomfortable with the sparks between us every time we see each other. I actually haven’t seen her for a while, but I know where she lives so if I ever want to go visit, I can just show up :D It’s really nice. She really completes my life, y’know? Whenever I’m not with her, I sit in perpetual despair. We’ve actually been dating for almost three years now. Our little break doesn’t count for shit, because I’m sure she’ll realize she’s meant to be with me and not Mr. Nice Guy. And even if she doesn’t, I have a plan to make her realize how much she loves me :)) Love is just a matter of getting rid of obstacles! Like Nagito was trying to kill Chiaki when he died, just so he could have Hajime all to himself. _

Shuichi blinked.

“That’s definitely not why Nagito died the way he did,” Kaito was the first one to speak up. Shuichi just nodded, his mouth dry. He took the phone from Maki and looked at the date of the most recent post. It was from  _ weeks _ ago. More than a month, surely. Shuichi went to scroll before freezing.

“Maki, keep reading through those and tell me if you spot anything else out of the ordinary. I need to check something in my notes.”

Maki nodded and continued scrolling. Shuichi got up quickly and made his way towards his notebook for the first murder. Upon checking the date the victim died, Shuichi swallowed. The date the post was made was a mere two days before the murder had occurred. Surely that hadn’t been coincidental. It was all too convenient. Shuichi understood that the murderer, for some reason,  _ wanted _ him to figure it out, but he wasn’t too sure as to  _ why _ . Who was she trying to draw in?  _ Who was she trying to draw out. _

This was the girlfriend, Shuichi’s mind registered. The one that Kokichi disliked, the one that Dakota was with during her time in D.I.C.E. This was  _ her _ . Shuichi’s mouth went dry. Who was she trying to draw in? Not Shuichi, for sure. These clues were mildly difficult for a detective, but only because he had no personal connection to the murderer. She was trying to draw in a larger group of people. About nine of them, excluding Dakota. And she already had the first.

Shuichi stood upright as if he had been electrified.

“You okay, Shuichi?” Kaito asked warily. Shuichi nodded and walked to Maki, silently asking for the phone. She made to hand it to him without question before stopping.

“What’s wrong?”

Shuichi shifted, “Nothing. I’m just going to go pick up Ouma-kun.”

He took the opportunity in which Maki didn’t move to grab the phone from her. Kaito recovered first, and stood up to grab Shuichi’s arm.

“Hey man, you can’t just jump in like that. I’m glad we have a vague idea of what’s going on, but there is somebody out there who has  _ murdered two people _ already. This isn’t Danganronpa, man. This is real.”

Shuichi looked at him for a moment before laughing, clear, and slightly crazed.

“Are you kidding me? You think I don’t know? Kaito, I’m  _ scared. _ I wish this was Danganronpa. I wish I didn’t have to weigh the possibility of finding my… friend’s dead body somewhere, but I  _ do _ . I just can’t just sit here and twiddle my thumbs while we have these coordinates.

“Then we’re going with you,” Maki said, standing up. Kaito followed suit, still holding onto Shuichi’s arm, and they started walking towards the door. Shuichi just followed them, relieved and tense at the same time.

“Can you get directions to the coordinates? I know the vague direction is northeast, but I’m going to need you to pull up Google Maps or something,” Kaito said, pulling out his keys as they arrived at the car. Shuichi nodded and got into the backseat, trying to control his breathing. Maki noticed how anxious he was from a glance back at the detective.

“Hey, Shuichi,” she said.

Shuichi cleared his throat, “What’s goin’ on, Maki?”

“Why do you like him so much?”

The question was purely curious in nature, but Shuichi’s chest tightened anyway, and to his own embarrassment, he found himself blushing slightly.

“What?”

Maki sighed, “Just tell me. Like, all of it.”

\----

Kokichi Ouma had dealt with some fucked up situations before, but he had somehow never been prepared for something like this. Kokichi couldn’t move _. _ The crazy  _ bitch _ had shoved him mercilessly under a (currently) static hydraulic press, and Kokichi’s mind had gone on pause out of fear. Dakota wasn’t here. Dakota was dead, as he had been told less than an hour ago by her apparent ex-girlfriend. It couldn’t be true. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t trust Tsumugi enough to mourn just yet. Kokichi’s chest was screaming with each rattling breath he took, and the blue haired woman pacing around was practically buzzing with excitement. For what, however, Kokichi had not been told. Maybe she was trying to get money in exchange for him. 

Not that Kokichi would be worth much, anyway. Maybe he was about to be sold into sex slavery. Maybe she was going to press the on switch on the hydraulic press and watch it crush him slowly - she had already lowered it close enough to his chest that it would probably kill him in less than five seconds. Kokichi didn’t know.

Kokichi didn’t want to admit exactly how terrified he was.

He tried to take his mind off things, but the last image he could conjure up was his trashed apartment. Who would even find his apartment? Surely nobody but Miu would have noticed his absence. Would she have told anyone, or simply passed it off as a strange occurrence? Guiltily, Kokichi hoped it was the former. Realistically, he knew the police probably weren’t going to show up, and he was going to end up a pile of mushed organs and blood. Kokichi was only 21. Isn’t that too young to be murdered?

In his panicked haze, Kokichi thought about Dakota. Shit,  _ Dakota _ . How Kokichi missed her. What would she have said to Tsumugi in this situation? Had Tsumugi killed her too? 

_ What did Kokichi have to do with anything? _

“You’re probably wondering what you have to do with anything,” Tsumugi drawled in a voice that sounded exactly like Junko Enoshima of the Danganronpa series. Kokichi shuddered and opened his mouth to answer. The only sound that came out was a wheeze of pain. 

“Ugh, you always were a fuckin’ pussy,” Tsumugi groaned. Kokichi shut his eyes.

Tsumugi continued despite the silence, “I just want to watch D.I.C.E watch  _ me _ , as I kill  _ you _ . That’s why you’re here. Because it’s your fault she’s gone.”

Kokichi opened his eyes.

“How is it my fault?” He rasped.

Something hard and metal slammed into his side.

“Because you and your little organization stole her from me,” Tsumugi snarled. In a flash, her entire demeanor changed, and she put down the metal pipe.

“It’s plain as day,” she beamed, “I just plainly hate you! I believe 'revenge' is the word of the day.”

Kokichi held back a scoff that would have come out as a whimper of pain anyway, just in case Tsumugi decided to bruise any more of his ribs. Kokichi shut his eyes again, tighter this time. Tsumugi’s footsteps retreated towards her spot near the door, and Kokichi held back his scream of frustration.

Nobody was going to help him. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. Kokichi relaxed into the cold slab of metal as much as he could, and resigned himself to die.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow kichi, this all seems real familiar  
> \-----  
> My tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> My ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	16. oh no oh hook (fuck)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They arrive. They converse. They resolve (in their own way).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh. ignore the tag updates.  
> <3

Kaito had to grab Shuichi by the waist to stop him from bolting into the abandoned warehouse when they arrived. 

“Dude, remember what we talked about, come on! Don’t alert them to our arrival,” Kaito hissed in his ear, “that’s probably exactly what they want!”

Shuichi nodded mutely, worst-case scenario images flitting through his head.

“Kaito, stay out here and contact the PD. Tell them everything that happened which you know, and give them our exact location. We may not need help, but in the chance that we  _ do _ , we’re probably going to want it soon. And take my gun,” Maki said seriously. Kaito only balked for a second before taking one look at Maki’s expression and agreeing. 

“Maki, take my gun and- Just have my back?” Shuichi turned to Maki. She nodded once and Shuichi handed his barely used G23 to her. 

Maki and Shuichi nodded at Kaito before they walked towards the entrance of the warehouse. The sounds of the phone ringing in Kaito’s hand faded into the sounds of Maki and Shuichi’s light steps crunching in the dry dirt outside the press. Shuichi listened to the silence of the building and raised his eyebrows at Maki. She only shrugged, and Shuichi took it as incentive to walk into the building. Maki followed him, holding the gun over his shoulder at any possible threats.

“Ah, hello? Excuse me, if there’s anyone in here, I’m going to need you to come out with your hands up,” Shuichi said shakily into the dark building. When nobody responded, Shuichi made his way down the ramp onto the main floor of the warehouse.

The lights flickered to life, as brightly as they could shine in a seemingly abandoned building.

“Aw maaan, I was really hoping D.I.C.E would be pacifists~” an unfamiliar voice echoed from within the warehouse. Shuichi felt the gun behind him lock onto the blue haired woman standing in front of him. She smiled and waved a little.

Shuichi resisted the urge to stare at her and checked his surroundings.

“Hey, don’t worry like that. I’m totes alone! I mean, mostly,” she said brightly. Shuichi looked back at her, slightly unnerved.

“Mostly?”

“Yeah!” Her bright demeanor dropped, “If your friend doesn’t put the gun down, the hydraulic press is going to do it’s job.”

Shuichi watched the smile retake her face immediately after she finished growling out the threat. Turning his head slightly, he saw her right hand was resting on the control board to the hydraulic press. What looked like it had been the emergency stop button had been mauled beyond repair. Shuichi shuddered.

“What do you mean…?” Shuichi asked, trailing off as he looked over at the machine. Dread filled his stomach as he made out the faint outline of a body laying in the press.

“Shuichi,” Maki said cautiously.

“Maki,” Shuichi responded, eyes glued to the figure, “Maki put the gun down.”

“ _ Shuichi,”  _ Maki began again.

Shuichi’s head twitched away from the machine at her tone but failed to tear his eyes from the outline.

“Maki, please, you can’t see it from here, but please don’t shoot.”

Tsumugi twirled her hair around her hand, looking in between the two of them with bright eyes, before smiling up at where Maki was.

“Thanks, love. Leave it down, too. Much appreciated Y’know, you guys really piss me off. You all used to be little kids, running around with no parents, graffiti-ing and breaking shit people left in dumpsters. It’s plain annoying, plain pesty, I’d say,” Tsumugi laughed in a different voice.

Shuichi looked at her sharply, “What? I’m-”

“-an idiot? An asshole? A  _ thief?”  _ She cut in. Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows.

“A thief?”

Tsumugi blinked.

“Give me back my fucking girlfriend,” She said dangerously. Shuichi just pursed his lips slightly.

“Ah, I’m sorry, but you actually murdered your ‘girlfriend’ more than a couple weeks ago,” the detective said nervously. The body on the hydraulic press choked out a curse. Tsumugi didn’t speak. 

“What do you want?” Shuichi asked warily.

Tsumugi watched him blankly for a few seconds, then laughed as if he had made a lukewarm joke about the weather.

“I want you to taste your plain own medicine,” she said softly. Tsumugi jerked toward the press panel and Shuichi went to reach out before he saw her stop and pull back, laughing. Immediately, Shuichi turned to Maki, holding his hands out to say ‘don’t shoot.’ She didn’t. 

Tsumugi squinted up towards the place where Maki was standing.

“Hello darling. Why don’t you come down here and hand me the gun? I feel that there is a very calm way to resolve this.”

Maki didn’t move, and Tsumugi’s hand crept down towards the button.

“ _ Wait! _ Wait. I, ah, I don’t think I’m who you think I am,” Shuichi nearly yelled. Tsumugi frowned. When Shuichi didn’t continue, the blue-haired woman only raised her eyebrows.

“Uh, I’m not- I was never a part of D.I.C.E. I don’t think you reached the right people. I’m a detective, and my friend and I came alone to get my friend,” Shuichi said without much thought. Why did he think he would be good at de-escalating the situation? The only people worse than him would be Kaito and… Maki. Ah.

“What?” Tsumugi said through her teeth.

Shuichi flexed his hand out of habit, “Uh, sorry?”

Tsumugi cleared her throat and stood up straighter before smiling again, “You won’t do anything to me while your friend is compromised, will you? ‘Darling Detective Lets Civilian Die During Serial Killer Case! What a headline. I’d love to see that.”

Shuichi twitched, “I don’t. I,” he took a deep breath, “Maki, come over and give her the gun. There’s no other way to do this.”

Maki didn’t move for a few seconds, and then her shoes started to click down the ramp. Tsumugi smiled beatificially and waited with an open hand. Maki hesitated before handing it to Tsumugi. Immediately, Tsumugi cocked it and Shuichi flinched.

“So?” Shuichi said quietly, “Did you want to shoot me now or later?” Tsumugi’s smile didn’t twitch in the slightest and she turned the gun over in her hands. 

Maki opened her mouth to speak, and Tsumugi pointed the gun at the brunette’s leg.

“Go, right now. I don’t need the police interfering.”

Maki looked at Shuichi with a tight smile and nodded.

“I swear to fuck if you die, Shuichi Saihara,” she said quietly. Shuichi didn’t say anything. Tsumugi twirled the loaded gun around her finger as she and Shuichi listened to Maki’s retreating footsteps.

\----

Kokichi felt like screaming, and screaming, and screaming. Unfortunately, the press rested just close enough that he couldn’t crawl out on his own, and just far enough that he could draw in enough breath to live. The odds of getting out of the press once it started moving were slim to none.

So obviously, when Shuichi Saihara’s voice echoed through the warehouse, Kokichi nearly threw up from relief. The police officer and the detective had come to save him! And apparently they weren’t very good at it.

Seriously, what the fuck? You’re just going to give the psycho lady the gun? 

And Dakota. Oh, god, Dakota was  _ actually _ dead. Kokichi wondered what would have happened if Shuichi showed him the whole case file for the girl’s death. Was it gruesome? Kokichi’s chest felt poisoned, like there were holes of fear and anger burning into him, hollowing him out.

Kokichi couldn’t speak- hell, he could hardly breathe. Nevertheless, he spent a few precious minutes of the life that he had accepted was ending soon gathering enough air to spit some common sense into Shuichi.

_ You actual fucking idiot. _

Except, Kokichi wasn’t doing so hot, and the words sort of came out as, 

“-ucking idiot.”

Tsumugi, who had cleared her throat, laughed. Shuichi didn’t say anything. Kokichi wanted to see the detective and make a connection. Maybe punch him in the face, didn’t really matter. All that mattered to him at the moment was that-

“-you can’t  _ die _ .”

Shuichi breathed in sharply, and Tsumugi stopped laughing.

“Well, actually he can, and I hate to break it to you, but he’s gonna have to! I can’t have the police on my case about this shit,” Tsumugi grumbled the last part. Kokichi heard something heave spinning in the air. The gun?

“I’d rather die than have you be a casualty,” Shuichi’s voice drifted to Kokichi.

_ Hi, Saihara-chan. Long time no see! Did you miss me? _

_ Were you even the one that noticed I was gone? _

Tsumugi didn’t say anything for a few more seconds. Kokichi  _ couldn’t _ . He felt like laughing, like telling Shuichi how messed up his sense of self-sacrifice was. Kokichi was going to die  _ anyway _ . Why couldn’t he understand that?

“You have way too much more of a life to live. I think you deserve that time. Trust me,” Shuichi continued. Kokichi wanted to kick and scream. To throw a tantrum.

“-orth more than I a-” Kokichi wheezed.

_ You’re worth more than I am _ .

More than he’d ever be, Kokichi reasoned.

“That’s the worst thing I have ever heard you say,” Shuichi sighed.

Tsumugi clicked her tongue, “So you’re just going to die? Like that? Alright, turn around then I guess.”

Shuichi’s steps echoed lightly in the warehouse. 

What the fuck. Shuichi didn’t have a backbone, evident from previous interactions, but he wasn’t the type of person to do  _ this _ , surely. Why was he just letting Tsumugi boss him around? Did he have some other plan, or was he seriously going to die here?

“It was a good chase. You almost got me, too,” Tsumugi said. It wasn’t quiet, but she didn’t yell it. It echoed all the same, off the walls of the warehouse, out into the sun, against Kokichi’s ringing ears.

“-ichi, Shuichi,  _ stop _ , please stop,” Kokichi tried to sceam. His voice came out in a pitiful scrape, and he wanted nothing more than to punch his vocal chords out.

The click of the ammunition eject sounded as Tsumugi checked that the gun wasn’t filled with blanks. Another click sounded, and she recocked the gun.

And that’s when it really registered.

Dakota was  _ dead _ . She was  _ gone, _ and Shuichi was going to let himself die. For what? For  _ Kokichi? _ What do you even say in a situation like that? Kokichi could barely breathe, it’s not like he could go on some chick-flick rant that ended with the three words he was still too wary to say.

Blood pounded in Kokichi’s ears, and his eyes started to burn. Since when did people die for other people? Did Shuichi love him?

Kokichi was so fucking scared.

He took a breath, and prepared to say, anything, to yell, to wax poetic, to-

“-lie anymore, okay Kokichi?”

_ Don’t lie anymore, okay Kokichi? _

_ Okay Kokichi? _

Kokichi felt like he was drowning, and somehow he could still hear the light tap of the gun against the back of Shuichi’s head, along with the detective’s shaky breath.

Any breath Kokichi had gathered stopped when the sound of a gunshot tore through his ears.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *distant laughter*  
> \-----  
> My tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> My ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	17. bass-ically, it's okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things... happen...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my summaries getting progressively worse: :)  
> also! i told myself to tell you in my notes (and i quote): "For purposeful purposes, the only characters that are actually only Danganronpa characters are Makoto, Nagito, and Hajime. The rest who are mentioned in real life are actually real people. The ones who aren't mentioned are whatever you think they are."  
> enjoy <3

Kokichi’s world stopped and his ears rang. The sick thud of a body hitting the floor slammed it’s way into his head and tapped around the walls of his skull. If it were possible, Kokichi would probably have been screaming. But it wasn’t, and he was silent. After a few moments, he realized he was crying. He couldn’t move, regardless of the hydraulic press against his chest. The roaring in his ears became louder and he squeezed his eyes shut. He felt thin fingers dig into his numb body and pull him out. Kokichi wanted to kick her, to scream, to make Tsumugi feel just as much pain as she had inflicted upon him, but the only thing he could do was fall dead weight into her arms. Her chest was warm and sturdy, and he felt her push a hand behind his head to cradle him against her chest. Kokichi wanted to push her away but he couldn’t bring himself to move his arms.

Why hadn’t she killed him yet? 

Kokichi was crying in earnest then, and only barely heard her shush him quietly. Coughs wracked his body and Tsumugi began walking with him in her arms. Sirens sounded outside, and when they hit the doorway outside of the warehouse, the sun made Kokichi scrunch his eyes. Tsumugi turned his head into her chest as if to shield his eyes.

Why was she being so nice?

Voices sounded in front of Tsumugi, talking to her. She started to comb her fingers through Kokichi’s hair, almost soothingly. Were they going to arrest her? They had to. Surely they know she killed Shuichi.

Kokichi stopped breathing again.

_ She killed Shuichi _ .

Weakly, he batted her hand out of his hair. Kokichi wanted to scream again. How dare she. How  _ dare _ she take someone so precious from him?

\----

When Kokichi made a valiant attempt to hit Shuichi’s arm away from his hair, the detective smiled apologetically at Officer Ishimaru and tried to softly coax Kokichi into relaxing. This only made things worse, so Shuichi cleared his throat.

“Uh, Ouma-kun?”

Kokichi twitched, then his eyes shot open. Shuichi leaned his face back away from him and watched Kokichi go through the five stages of grief within the span of a second.

“Shuichi?” He coughed out, and Shuichi nearly dropped him.

“Ah, if you’d like to talk about this later, detective?” Taka said with a smile playing at his lips. Shuichi flushed and nodded before carrying Kokichi towards the police car. 

There were police cars parked around the area and in the street, and multiple officers had their guns aimed toward the entrance. Maki was standing and talking to other officers, trying to explain the situation. The dry air filled Shuichi’s lungs and almost choked him as he breathed deeply in relief.

Kokichi had rolled back over into Shuichi’s chest and was crying again. Shuichi resumed his awkward-combing-through-the-hair thing. Shuichi spotted Kyoko standing next to her car on the phone, and picked up his pace. When Kyoko noticed him, she ended the conversation and looked down at the body in his arms.

“I assume you need a trip to the hospital,” she said matter-of-factly, gesturing to the blood running from a gash in Kokichi’s forehead.

Shuichi nodded without speaking, and Kyoko opened the door for him. Shuichi placed Kokichi in the seat like a toddler, and walked around to the other side. Once they were settled in, Kokichi still clinging to Shuichi like a koala, Shuichi let out the breath he was holding.

“So, detective, I hear you solved another cold case, a homicide, and now you’ve become a knight in shining armor. Care to tell me why you rushed into a situation like this without backup?” Kyoko deadpanned. Shuichi grimaced. He had been hoping the Kirigiri lecture would come  _ after _ Kokichi had been settled in the hospital.

“I’m really sorry. I should have thought things through more-”

And then Kyoko Kirigiri laughed. Genuinely started  _ chuckling _ , and Shuichi closed his mouth with an audible snap.

“You know, I was just giving you a hard time. I’m actually very proud of your critical thinking and quick action skills. I only got little bits of the situation from Momota, obviously he was still quite shaken up, so I wanted to hear it from the mastermind directly.”

Shuichi winced again. Kaito was probably having a really hard time. Shuichi wished he could have said something before they left for the hospital. Kokichi shuddered next to him, and Shuichi looked over to find him with his eyes shut tight. The detective placed an arm around Kokichi to pull him closer.

“It wasn’t much of a plan. I knew it was a negotiation-hostage situation, and so I gave Kaito a keyword, and Maki an explanation. I figured the culprit would be there to speak to us, so I made sure the keyword was something that would make sense for me to say in the situation at almost any point.”

Kyoko hummed, “What was the word?”

“Oh, ah, Kokichi. Ouma-kun’s surname,” Shuichi said. Kokichi gave a little jolt at Shuichi’s mention of his first name. Kyoko hummed again.

“That’s very smart. Kaito won’t be facing any real threat. It was self-defense, and I think anyone who hears the entire situation will understand that.”

Shuichi smiled, “Thank you, Kirigiri-san.”

\----

The rest of the car ride was spent with Kyoko on the phone with the interrogation team, telling them to come to the hospital. Shuichi barely got out of the car before Kokichi was pulled onto a stretcher and wheeled into the hospital. Shuichi watched Kokichi disappear into the hall as someone bumped into him from the side.

“Hey, sidekick,” Kaito said. Shuichi hugged his friend immediately. Kaito patted his back until Shuichi pulled away.

“Thank you so much,” Shuichi said, looking between Kaito and Maki, who had just appeared, “I wouldn’t be anything without you guys.” Maki just smiled and bowed her head, while Kaito ruffled Shuichi’s hair affectionately. 

“How are you doing, Kaito?” Shuichi asked after a few moments.

Kaito sighed, “I don’t think it’s registered yet. Although, I know Maki-roll will be here to help me out when I finally realize I uh, killed someone.”

Shuichi smiled grimly.

“Let’s go inside then?” Kaito asked. Shuichi nodded and they started towards the hospital doors. 

They made it through the glass doors, and Kaito started in with the teasing, “Alright Shuichi, are you finally going to admit you’re whipped for the guy?”

Shuichi groaned and dragged his hands down his face. Maki cleared her throat, and he looked up to see both parties looking at him expectantly, one with a significantly larger and more smug smirk on his face.

“ _ Yes _ , okay? I like him. I want to- I’d like to date him. Is that what you want to hear? In normal circumstances where I’m not freaking out? Yes. I do. That’s it, it’s no big thing,” he babbled. Maki looked down and smiled, while Kaito laughed at Shuichi’s fumbling.

The trio sat down in the waiting room. Kaito and Maki started a conversation about something mundane, and Shuichi retreated into his thoughts. The minimal light from the hospital waiting room made the white walls less blinding, and Shuichi watched the fish in the large tank along the wall mindlessly. The case of Kokichi Ouma had all but been solved. Not dwelling on the things that had made Kokichi would be throwing useful evidence into the ocean. Shuichi didn’t have the greatest relationship with his parents, but his trauma was considerably less grave compared to Kokichi’s.

Not that trauma was a comparable, measurable thing.

Shuichi, for the first time, felt the urge to protect something. He bit his lip. Someone. So what do you say to someone in this situation? Was there anything to say? Shuichi wondered vaguely if they’d even let him into the room with Kokichi. And Kaito had  _ killed _ someone. Shuichi had killed people by proxy, but Kaito had actually pulled the trigger. Granted, they saved someone else, but Tsumugi’s dead body just rounded off the case’s number. Three gone, one saved. Shuichi hated murder cases. They made him so sick. But he was good at them, and sometimes it’s important to help out where you’re needed. 

Before Shuichi could think too hard, a nurse appeared from the doorway.

“U-Um, excuse m-me? Is there a Sh-Shuichi Saihara-a here?” She stuttered. Shuichi smiled kindly and waved at her. The nurse walked up to him shyly.

“Hello Saihara-k-kun. M-my name is M-mikan Tsum-miki. I’m here to t-tell you Ouma-kun is d-doing okay. W-we need to s-stabilize him, b-but I w-wanted to let you know he’s a-asking f-for you.”

Shuichi winced at her stutter, knowing the anxious feeling all too well, “Hey it’s alright. May I go seem him?”

Mikan flinched and waved her hands frantically, “Ah! No! I’m s-so sorry! You can’t yet! We need to st-stabilize him first. I’m s-sorry!”

Shuichi blinked and brought his hands up in surrender.

“Tsumiki-san, that’s completely fine. You have no reason to apologize. I’m grateful for your help, really,” Shuichi tried to pacify her. Mikan nodded with tear-filled eyes and turned to go before turning back.

“Eek! I’m so horrible! I f-forgot to say I’ll t-tell you when you can c-come in. I hope you’re okay with w-waiting? I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Shuichi tried smiling comfortingly and nodding, but it most likely came out as an awkward baring of teeth. Mikan scurried away and Shuichi scratched his head while he sat back down.

Five minutes later, Shuichi remembered to call Miu. The phone rang a couple times before she picked up.

“What’s up, shrivel-dick?”

Shuichi grimaced, “Well, it sounds like you already know, but we got Kokichi. He’s safe. We’re at Island City Hospital right now. How are you?”

“Yes, I heard. I’m waiting to be questioned right now. I heard the bitch died, though?”

Shuichi nodded before realizing she couldn’t see him, “Uh, yes. I believe so. She took a gunshot from someone with good aim. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you right before an interrogation.”

“Listen, virgin. Saihara. I appreciate it. I would have appreciated it  _ more _ if you’d groveled, but this will do,” she paused for a second, “And thank you. For bringing him back safely. You’re a really great detective, y’know?”

Shuichi held back the urge to cry. Since when was Miu Iruma motherly?

“Ah, of course Iruma-san.”

“Alright, get back to whatever you were doing. Jacking off or whatever. I gotta go. Toodles!”

The call clicked off before Shuichi could respond, and Shuichi put his phone in his pocket before exhaling and looking down at his palms. Maki and Kaito sat down on either side of him, causing the detective to tear his gaze from his hands. 

“Are you going to tell him how you feel?” Maki asked. Shuichi looked back down at his lap and shrugged.

“He probably doesn’t feel the same way,” Shuichi paused, “A-and that’s  _ okay _ , I don’t want to make him uncomfortable or force him into anything. Which is why I don’t think I’m going to say anything. It will probably be awkward anyway. I don’t even know if he’s going to want to talk to me.”

Kaito furrowed his eyebrows, “Hey man, I get that you have anxiety, but he was asking for you. He probably- He  _ definitely _ wants to talk to you.” Shuichi blinked and straightened up a little.

“You overthink everything,” Maki said disinterestedly. Shuichi laughed quietly and rubbed the back of his neck.

Kaito opened his mouth to say something else when the door opened again, and a sheepish looking Mikan gestured for Shuichi. 

“He’s in r-room f-fifteen,” The nurse cringed out before disappearing back into the hallway. 

Shuichi straightened completely, and Kaito patted his back. The astronaut whispered in Shuichi’s ear.

“Confident, understanding, honest, and  _ yourself _ .”

Shuichi nodded and walked towards the hallway.

_ Confident. _

Shuichi rolled his shoulders back and looked at the paintings on the walls.

_ Understanding. _

There were certainly a lot of flowers. Not that Shuichi minded. People liked flowers, and he knew that. Shuichi liked flowers well enough too.

_ Honest. _

Shuichi blinked and looked at the end of the hall. What’s in a friendship, anyway? The door to room 15 stared Shuichi in the face. The detective swallowed. A friendship is whatever you make it. And if Shuichi was being real, he wanted to work on making it into something more than a friendship. 

He rolled his shoulders a couple times and took a deep breath before placing a hand on the white door.

_ Yourself. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL BETTER HYPE SHUICHI UP mans boutta break from stress  
> \-----  
> My tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> My ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	18. a plankton of... idk? unresolved romantic tension?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apologies are made, misunderstandings are cleared up, Shuichi is a big boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayo. awkward hospital room scene cheeeeck B)  
> ooo whew two more chapters

Nothing incredible happened when Shuichi opened the door. No fireworks, no trumpets, no blinding white light. Just the small frame of a fragile man sitting in the middle of his bed, playing with a deck of cards.

When Shuichi stepped into the room, Kokichi looked up and dropped the deck. Shuichi just looked at him with wide eyes, before exhaling.

“Hi,” he said stupidly. Kokichi blinked and made a little aborted motion to raise his hand in what was probably a wave.

Shuichi decided to bite the bullet and walk over to Kokichi. He leaned down and tried to initiate a hug, but it ended up being a weird bend-over situation and after an excruciating moment, Kokichi shoved him lightly off.

“You’re such a moron, just sit on the bed,” there was no bite to his tone, just gentle humor. Shuichi complied, sitting on the edge of the hospital mattress, and turned to look at Kokichi.

“Stop looking at me like that, it’s only a laceration to the forehead,” Kokichi whispered.

Shuichi blinked. 

“Okay,” he responded quietly.

The room went silent for a bit. Shuichi looked at the purple accents on the walls and thought about how much they reminded him of Kokichi’s eyes. Flowers stood on the nightstand already, and Shuichi almost laughed to himself. He imagined Kokichi whining at the doctors until they brought in flowers because the room was too drab. The rest of the room was minimalistic, and white. Shuichi internally winced, knowing Kokichi most likely disliked the color palette. What had he wanted to talk about? Was there anything? If there was, it hadn’t seemed very pressing. Maybe Kokichi had just wanted company, and Shuichi wasn’t the worst option.

_ Confident _ .

Shuichi opened his mouth to ask, resulting in he and Kokichi starting at the same time.

“So, was there-”

“Shumai, I-”

Shuichi turned back to look at Kokichi, flushing slightly.

“Go ahead,” the detective prompted.

Kokichi blinked and lowered his chin.

“I’m sorry,” was the whisper that came out of his mouth. Shuichi stops. The overwhelming urge to hug Kokichi slammed itself into Shuichi’s head.

_ Understanding _ .

“Sorry for what?”

Kokichi looked up at the detective.

“For getting into that situation. For putting you in danger,” was the reply. Shuichi took a moment to gather his thoughts.

“I don’t think there was much you could have done. I still don’t know how she got your contact information, which is marginally terrifying. It’s not your fault. If anything, it’s mine. I should have been more observant. I could have gone after you sooner.”

Kokichi, Shuichi had noticed, was rarely unguarded in his expressions. The current moment was no exception, and an impassive look had made it’s way to the purplenette’s face.

But Shuichi Saihara was a detective, and his work hadn’t stopped there.

Fact: Kokichi Ouma was rarely unguarded in his expressions. Amenity: Kokichi’s eyes were never blank, and could tell you what he was thinking most of the time, even when the rest of his face was blank.

Right now, Shuichi was studying those eyes.

They seemed to say, ‘how dare I make this person apologize to me, I don’t deserve his words, his presence.’

Shuichi hoped that was a severe misinterpretation. 

“Please, Ouma-kun, you deserve the understanding that you did nothing wrong. Nor is it wrong to accept apologies from other people.”

“But it was Tsumugi Shirogane who manipulated and kidnapped and  _ murdered _ . Not you, Saihara,” Kokichi said sharply. Shuichi blinked.

_ Honest _ .

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s her fault for being a psycho  _ bitch _ and doing illegal things and trying to get revenge that probably wouldn’t have satisfied her anyway.”

Kokichi started laughing. Genuine laughter, like soft bells clinking against each other. Shuichi just watched and listened. Angel, his mind supplied. Angel, angel,  _ angel. _

Once Kokichi calmed down a little bit, he looked down again.

“How did you figure it out?” He asked.

Shuichi pursed his lips.

“Do you want the full story?” The detective asked. Kokichi nodded.

“Okay. Well, Miu and Kaede told me that you were  _ gone _ gone, as in MIA and AWOL. So, I tried to contact you, and it told me you had blocked my number. Which made me kinda nervous, so I, um, went with Kaito and Maki to your apartment. We found it trashed, and the picture on the ground-” Shuichi inhaled sharply. He lifted his hips off the bed slightly to reach into his pocked and pull out the photo of D.I.C.E.

“I took this. It was actually a crucial part of the investigation, so I might have to make a photocopy and give it to the station, but I think it’d be okay to have you hold it right now,” Shuichi looked at Kokichi, who was clearly holding back tears, “Ah, Ouma-kun, you’re allowed to mourn.”

And Kokichi did. Shuichi rubbed his back while broken sobs and pained gasps echoed throughout the small room. Once Kokichi’s tears ran dry and his breathing leveled out some, Shuichi held the box of tissues out to him. Kokichi took one and wiped his face off, crumpling it up when he finished. Shuichi watched him look around the room for a second before jolting slightly.

“Oh, ah, I can take that,” Shuichi said. Kokichi looked at him with red eyes and smiled a little, handing Shuichi the tissue.

“Would you like me to continue?” Shuichi asked softly. Kokichi nodded.

Shuichi smiled, “Okay. So, we got into your apartment, and we found the photo, the television on, and Dakota’s old phone, jailbroken so we had easy access to it. The television was connected to a computer, playing Nagito’s death episode on loop. That actually kind of got to me because it reminded me that you were just, gone? And I sort of related to Hajime in that moment, and I was pretty shaken up from that point on, which was probably her intention-”

“Are you,” Kokichi cleared his throat, “Are you a Komahina shipper?”

Shuichi looked surprised then smiled sheepishly, “Oh yeah, hardcore.” A strange expression passed over Kokichi’s face, but it was gone before Shuichi had time to analyze it. Kokichi gestured for Shuichi to continue.

“Okay. Uhhh, so the TV was playing Danganronpa, and when we found the phone it had a conversation with you on it that was clearly identity protected to come off creepy, but it seemed more like someone’s sick idea of a joke,” Shuichi took a breath and slowed down, “So we went back to my apartment because I wanted to look through my notes. Um, and when we got there I started looking through all the files and such, and we eventually realized Dakota was the second murder victim, and using that connection, we were able to find Tsumugi, and an instagram account which linked her to the motive, so I decided to use the coordinates sent to Dakota’s phone from yours, and Kaito and Maki decided to come with me. And that’s when the whole plan with giving Kaito a gun and a keyword to shoot on happened, and why it seemed like I, um, died. But I didn’t and that’s pretty much it,” Shuichi was still awkwardly out of breath by the end. 

Kokichi swallowed, “What files were you looking through? At your apartment?”

Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows and tried to remember, “Uh, just Dakota’s old files before and after her name change, hotel records, and- oh. Uh, I had to look through your um. I had to look through the legal, um. The le-”

“My legal records?” Kokichi asked, inflectionless. Shuichi nodded.

“Oh.”

Kokichi withdrew into himself, defeated. Shuichi watched him shut down with a mild sense of dread.

“Ah, what’s wrong?”

Kokichi shrugged, “I just didn’t realize you came in to say goodbye.”

Shuichi blinked, alarmed.

“What? Why would I want to leave? Because someone else did awful things to you? Kokichi, I’m still here, and I don’t plan on ‘saying goodbye’ anytime in the foreseeable future.”

“Oh.”

Shuichi would have nearly laughed, if not for the fragile atmosphere that had been created. Faintly, Shuichi felt Kokichi’s hand make it’s way to his wrist. The purplenette’s eyes flicked down to where his hand held the detective’s wrist, then back up to Shuichi’s face.

“I thought you died,” his voice broke off slightly, “Saihara-chan, I thought you  _ died _ .”

The same, previous overwhelming urge to hold Kokichi close crashed into Shuichi again. He resisted.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Ouma-kun, I didn’t have any way to tell you what the plan was. It would have put you in more danger than you were already,” Shuichi whispered.

Kokichi bit his lip.

“Shuichi, I think I-”

The door opened.

Shuichi probably would have turned to glare at whoever opened the door, but he was too busy listening to the warmth that washed down his spine at Kokichi’s use of first name.

You think you what?

_ You think you what? _

“Hey sidekick, Mikan got really insistent that we come in and tell you that you’re free to leave whenever, and Ouma-kun is perfectly fine long term. No concussion. She also said she’d already talked to him about medicine and treatments and such.”

Kokichi smiled brightly at Kaito and winked like he hadn’t just cried his eyes out less than ten minutes prior. Kaito nodded back.

“What Kaito failed to mention is that you should come back to the hospital if anything even  _ appears _ to be wrong,” Maki said abruptly. Shuichi nodded and stood up. Kokichi got up from the hospital bed and held onto Shuichi to hold himself up while he regained his balance. 

“Do you want us to drive you home?” Kaito asked. Shuichi went to respond before Kokichi snickered and put a finger in front of his mouth.

“Actually, I was hoping Shumai here would take me on the train,” Shuichi spluttered next to Kokichi, but nothing seemed to register to Kaito, “He takes it every day, and I was wondering what was so special about it.”

Kaito shrugged and patted Shuichi on the back before saying goodbye with Maki and walking out of the room.

Shuichi listened to the receding sounds of their footsteps until the only sound in the room was the fan and their own breath.

“So, are you going to check me out and let me ride the train?” Kokichi yawned.

_ Yourself. _

“Ah, yeah. Come on, I’ll show you the way. We can go back to my apartment for the time being, seeing as yours is probably still trashed and taped off and just generally under lockdown. I’ll call the department on the way and let the interrogation team know you need some time to calm down. Sound okay?”

Kokichi just smiled and allowed himself to be led out of the room towards the check-out counter.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bro are we abt to k- are we about to kiss rn??
> 
> my captions are slowly getting more chaotic oh brother  
> \-----  
> My tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> My ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	19. for goodness' hake i'm running out of fish puns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi cooking??!??!?! Kokichi likes video games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okayyyy i kinda hit hard with angst for about *checks document* seven chapters SO it's time for a chapter of fluff :)  
> ENJOY HEH <3

Kokichi walked out of Shuichi’s bedroom, freshly changed out of the dreary hospital clothes. Shuichi was standing in the kitchen, making dinner. Kokichi hugged the arms of Shuichi’s sweatshirt around himself. They’d gone directly to the detective’s apartment, and Kokichi had failed to pack a change of clothes before being kidnapped.

“Thanks for the sweater, Shumai! I didn’t realize how much of a giraffe you were,” Kokichi teased. Shuichi looked back from the counter, where he was preparing the katsudon.

“Oh wow, it’s like a dress,” Shuichi laughed. Kokichi pouted and looked down at the hem. It only went down to his mid-thighs. The sweatpants Shuichi had given him were cuffed nearly five times. The detective was all fucking  _ leg _ .

Kokichi pulled himself onto one of the bar stools and inhaled deeply. The urge to cry crashed into him from behind, and almost gave him whiplash. His mind rattled slightly while he masked his expression. Shuichi turned around to turn on his kitchen speaker a moment too late to see Kokichi’s hurt. After a few moments, Taylor Swift’s voice drifted around the kitchen. Kokichi tried to hold back a snort but failed, and Shuichi turned around to see the purplenette smirking.

“Didn’t peg you as a T-Swizzle fan,” Kokichi said in explanation. Shuichi’s shoulders drooped and he frowned sheepishly.

“I didn’t want to weird you out with my other playlists,” the detective mumbled. Kokichi pursed his lips.

“From the way you dress, I’d say you listen to,” Kokichi hummed, “MCR, MSI, YUNGBLUD, Fall Out Boy.” Shuichi rolled his eyes.

Kokichi brought a finger to his lips and smirked, “Oh, and I can’t forget Troye Sivan.”

From the way Shuichi ducked his head towards the counter, Kokichi had hit right on the mark. Kokichi watched Shuichi dance around a little as he cooked to the music, and Kokichi got up to look at the food.

Shuichi bumped into Kokichi lightly and started, causing Kokichi to back up and laugh.

“Jeez, you’re really quiet,” Shuichi noted. He turned back toward the counter, not dancing anymore.

Kokichi frowned at this, “Aw, Shumai, why’d you stop dancing? You know, you’d make a great housewife. You have the moves down too!” Shuichi blushed and shook his head.

“Alright, I think it’s time for you to sit down. I’m going to finish dinner, but I can’t if you’re running around the kitchen,” Shuichi said in a voice that reminded the purplenette of Kaede’s ‘authority’ voice. It was kind of cute, in it’s own pitifully awkward way. Kokichi blinked and went to sit down at the counter again. Shuichi finished making dinner while Kokichi (completely  _ not _ guiltily, thank you very much) hummed along to the songs. Shuichi didn’t comment on it, and Kokichi decided to call a (albeit silent) truce. After a little while, Shuichi brought over the two bowls, and utensils. Kokichi closed his eyes and inhaled the aroma of the katsudon while Shuichi sat down next to him.

“Uh, I’m not the best cook, so I hope it’s okay,” Shuichi admitted. Kokichi just waved him off.

“I’m sure it’s absolutely horrible, Saihara-chan.”

Shuichi nodded in relief and they began to eat.

“Wait- what?”

\----

Once they finished and Kokichi had thanked him for the meal, Shuichi took the bowls up to the counter and began washing them out. Kokichi slid off of the stool and skipped into Shuichi’s living room. The sound of the sink running faded into the background as Kokichi looked through Shuichi’s video game collection. Or, it was more like a space in the cabinet with one video game and a bunch of true crime movies, documentaries, and horror films. Kokichi rolled his eyes and grabbed the game.

Shuichi walked into the room a few moments later, and Kokichi was inserting the game disk into the game console.

“Video games?” Shuichi asked. Kokichi looked back at him from where he was crouched in front of the TV.

“Yeah, I can’t believe you  _ only _ have ‘Breath of the Wild’,” Kokichi scoffed, “and I’ll bet you never finished it, either.”

Shuichi just smiled and shook his head before sitting down on the couch. Kokichi felt the detective’s eyes on the back of his head and ignored the shiver that wormed it’s way down his spine. Pressing the play button, Kokichi hopped up and turned back around.

“There’s only one controller, so I can watch you play,” Shuichi said quietly while Kokichi flopped down onto the couch. Kokichi rebounded and looked up at Shuichi.

“Are you sure?” he asked, while loading the last game save. Shuichi laughed a little and nodded. Shuichi relaxed against the back of the couch and his eyes drooped lazily. A few golden rays of sunlight hit Shuichi from the side and lit his hair in a soft glow. With each breath, he drew more out of himself and relaxed. His amber eyes were fixed calmly on the Zelda loading screen. After a few moments of staring, Shuichi looked over at Kokichi, who immediately went back to loading the game. Oops, haha. Yikes.

Kokichi laughed a little to himself at the loading tips while the Zelda world started.

“Shuichi,” Kokichi deadpanned when the screen finished loading, “you didn’t even get off of the Great fucking Plateau?”

Shuichi blinked and looked at Kokichi from the side. He shrugged, and Kokichi rolled his eyes.

“You’re hopeless. I’m going to get the paraglider for you,” Kokichi declared. He tucked his legs up under himself on the couch and got to work.

\----

An hour later, Shuichi felt the gentle pull of sleep tugging at the base of his mind. His eyes were fixed to Kokichi, who’s eyes were fixed on the screen. The purplenette’s tongue poked out slightly, and a corner of Shuichi’s mouth pulled up at the expression. Kokichi moved a little to each side with his movement of the controller. The screen went black in the corner of Shuichi’s eye, and the detective turned his head to see the ‘Game Over’ symbol displayed on the screen.

“You had a pretty good run there. I think I died the first time I came into contact with monsters. Or maybe I accidentally blew myself up,” Shuichi sympathized. Kokichi put the controller in his lap while he shook with silent laughter. Shuichi felt himself smiling by proxy, and Kokichi took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

“You probably did both in the same session, huh?” Kokichi laughed. Shuichi rolled his eyes and pushed Kokichi slightly. Kokichi let himself tumble over to the side while he kept laughing. Shuichi just watched him with the fond smile still on his face.

Kokichi pushed himself back into a sitting position and yawned. Shuichi looked at his watch.

“You sleepy?” 

Kokichi looked up from the game and opened his mouth to speak, but it turned into another yawn. He waggled his hands back and forth as if to say, ‘no, that’s not what I meant.’ Shuichi laughed and nodded.

Kokichi closed his mouth and blinked sleepily before looking up at Shuichi with furrowed eyebrows.

“Can’t believe you came after me so soon,” he said sluggishly. It was Shuichi’s turn to furrow his eyebrows.

“Why wouldn’t I?” the detective asked. Kokichi was silent for a moment before cupping the back of his neck with his arms.

“I didn’t know Shumai cared that much~” he teased.

Shuichi ignored the self deprecation laced into the comment. Before he could convince his exhausted mind not to, he was speaking.

“You can’t… you can’t begin to know how much I care about you.” Kokichi’s hands slid off his neck. He looked down at the controller in his lap. Shuichi’s ears tinged red, but he held his serious, level stare at Kokichi. After a few moments, Kokichi looked back up with a smile, like he was about to break the tension with another joke, or teasing insult, or anything. So Shuichi kissed him.

In retrospect, he probably should have asked first, and he made a mental note to do so in the future. Kokichi didn’t move for one horrible second, but then he grabbed the front of Shuichi’s shirt with one hand and threaded his other around the short hairs at the base of the detective’s head. Shuichi smiled against his lips, and pulled apart gently. Kokichi’s hand slid to rest on Shuichi’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Shuichi said, for lack of better lead-in.

Kokichi smiled, “Hey yourself.”

Shuichi bit his bottom lip in a meager attempt to smooth out the upturned corners of his mouth. Kokichi watched him a moment, then moved the hand on Shuichi’s shoulder back to it’s original position as he leaned in again.

Shuichi, ever the detective, noted that Kokichi kissed like he spoke. Hours, weeks, days of unsaid words tumbled into Shuichi while the sun dipped below the buildings outside, and the room glowed blue and green from the video game quietly idling on the screen. Shuichi sighed when Kokichi pulled away again. Neither of them said anything. For once, Kokichi didn’t try to fill a silence, and Shuichi didn’t feel the awkward need to.

Kokichi pulled himself onto Shuichi’s lap and sat criss cross applesauce, with the controller in his hands again.

“Oof,” Shuichi said mildly. Kokichi just leaned back against the detective and continued the leadup to a boss fight. After a few moments, a banner titled ‘Waterblight Ganon’ crossed the screen, and Kokichi sat up a little straighter. Shuichi wrapped his arms around Kokichi - because where else was he supposed to put them? This had been an issue for him with Kaede sometimes: stop overthinking cuddling, Shuichi, it’s just a behaviour - and rested his head back against the couch. Kokichi huffed a little every time he took a hit from the boss, and Shuichi squeezed him when Link got a particularly good critical hit in.

Shuichi’s weary brain filled in the strange sights from the video game who’s storyline he probably should have paid more attention to. Waterblight Ganon seemed to like water. Well, that was a given. Were there fish in the water around the fight? Shuichi hoped Link didn’t hurt any by accident. Vaguely, the detective wondered whether the developers had looked at the types of fish that he had seen with Kokichi on their outing.

Damn, why was he so into fish? Probably something he shouldn’t mention to Kokichi - he’d never live it down.

Kokichi let out a little ‘yes’ of triumph when he finally killed the boss, and Shuichi clapped around his middle. Kokichi relaxed back into Shuichi while he ran Link back to the Zora tribe castle.

Hey, he did know the lore. Kind of.

After a lot of travelling and half of a storyline scene, Shuichi fell asleep.

\----

Shuichi blinked awake to find a heavy weight in his lap, and his television playing…

Legend of Zelda, right. He looked down to see Kokichi asleep, the dead weight in his lap.  _ Right. _

“Kokichi,” Shuichi whispered. Kokichi didn’t stir. Shuichi gently took the controller out of his hands and lifted the purplenette up like a doll. Kokichi’s head lolled to the side and Shuichi cursed quietly, cradling Kokichi’s head with part of his arm. The detective made it to his bedroom and placed Kokichi in his bed. It seemed fine. Shuichi tried to stand up to walk back into the living room to settle on the couch, but Kokichi’s arm wrapped around his own, and trapped him lightly. Shuichi blushed, regardless of Kokichi’s state of consciousness.

In the end, he scooted Kokichi over lightly and got into bed next to him, trying to be wary of boundaries but not too much as to wake the purplenette up by pulling away. Delicate balance, he thought to himself over and over.

'Over and over' being about three times, because after that he was fast asleep.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg bro thats so sweet bro they're sleeping bro omg bro look bro yooooo  
> \-----  
> My tumblr: plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com  
> My ask box is always open: https://plaidnutmeg.tumblr.com/ask


	20. pisces/epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright alright, i know i've been really meme-y for the last several chapters but for this one it's lowk serious so!!! here's the ending!!! i have more notes at the end but i really hope you enjoy :)  
> *mwah*

A few months later, and Shuichi was sitting in the same little coffee shop as always, but this time Kokichi sat down next from to after bringing his, Shuichi’s, and Rantaro’s drinks to the table. Shuichi smiled at his boyfriend and thanked him before turning back to Rantaro, who was talking animatedly about a new study psychologists were doing on the effects of virtual reality, and ways people could ‘dive’ virtually long term. 

“And actually, ah, I forgot to tell you! Apologies, I’m just very excited to be part of the development team. We already have an investor for the technology,” Rantaro exclaimed.

Kokichi twirled a hair around his finger, “And? Are you going to tell us who?”

“Oh! It’s a company called Future Foundation. I’ve heard they do a lot of disaster recuperation.”

Shuichi spoke up, “I think Kirigiri-san was talking about them. She seemed really interested. I wonder if she’ll apply? If she transfers, we’d be losing a great asset, but it would be a good day for Future Foundation.”

Rantaro shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m sure she’d be wonderful, though. I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve talked to you. I heard most of the story about what happened last year. Are you living in your apartment again, Kokichi?” 

Kokichi sighed, “Technically, yep! But if we’re being honest here, I spend 6/7 nights a week at Shumai’s house.”

“Kokichi has been living with me recently. Don’t sugarcoat it for Rantaro. Heaven knows I have enough money to buy out the hotel. It’s very much my parents’ M.O. to send me massive checks instead of  _ actually _ checking up on me,” Shuichi grumbled.

Rantaro hummed, “I’m sorry. First name basis, though, I see.”

Shuichi scratched the back of his neck, “Rantaro, you knew we’re dating, right? Uh! ‘We’ as in me and Kokichi. Sorry.”

Kokichi sniggered and Rantaro laughed, “I understood, don’t worry. And no, I didn’t know. Congratulations though!”

Shuichi and Kokichi thanked him, and Rantaro looked at his watch.

“Ah, listen guys, I have a client in a little while that I’d like to get ready for. Let me know if you guys need anything in the future!”

Kokichi yawned, “But you just got here, how could you leave me so early, darling?”

Rantaro looked at Kokichi pointedly and shook his head with a smile.

“Good _ bye _ , Ouma. Saihara, make sure to keep him under control,” Rantaro raised his eyebrows and tilted his head toward Kokichi. Shuichi nodded mock-gravely.

“He is certainly a handful,” Shuichi dropped the farce and smiled pleasantly, “Thanks for coming Amami-kun, it’s always nice to see you.”

“Likewise,” Rantaro waved and made his way out of the cafe.

Shuichi looked back at Kokichi and smiled before looking down at his hands.

“Uh, actually I wanted to ask you something about that,” Shuichi said. Kokichi cocked an eyebrow.

“Hmm? About what, beloved? You have to be more specific; I can’t read your mind, sad as it may be,” Kokichi sassed. Shuichi rolled his head to the side.

“Okay, okay. Sorry, I was going to ask if you wanted to-”

“Audition for Danganronpa with you?” Kokichi’s eyes lit up and he brought his hands up near his chin in fists.

Shuichi’s eyes widened slightly and he shook his head.

“Wow, y’know, that’s a really interesting idea, but I just…” Shuichi pursed his lips before looking over out the window, “Maybe in another universe. I don’t think I want to risk you in this one, though. Okay?”

When Shuichi turned back, Kokichi’s face was blank. Shuichi cleared his throat and took the barista’s hand before speaking,

“Come on, I know you weren’t serious. I actually wanted to ask if you’d move in with me. Like, officially?”

Kokichi blinked before straightening up.

“Really? Yes?! Of  _ course. _ Why would I ever pass up an opportunity to mercilessly annoy my wonderful, beloved, awkward detective?”

Shuichi blinked this time.

“Really?” he echoed, before gathering his thoughts, “Oh. Oh, yeah, yes, y’know- yes. Sure. Um-”

Shuichi hid his burning cheeks by taking a sip of his drink and immediately almost choked on something in the back of his throat.

“Gah- what th-” he spluttered. Kokichi turned to inspect his nails  _ very _ closely while Shuichi coughed out what looked like a ring.

“Ah crap, did Kaede drop this in here while she made my drink?” Shuichi said nervously. When Kokichi didn’t respond right away, he went to get up. Kokichi reached to grab at his shirt and pull him back down. Shuichi allowed himself to be keptd back, but looked at Kokichi questioningly.

“I,” Kokichi cleared his throat, “ _ I _ made your drink, asshole.”

Shuichi looked down at the ring, then back up at Kokichi before it dawned on him.

“Oh.  _ Oh.  _ Kokichi? _ ”  _ Shuichi said with saucer eyes. Kokichi grit his jaw and hit him slightly.

“It’s a fucking  _ promise _ ring, dork. Don’t get too excited. I don’t move that fast,” Kokichi grumbled. He kept his face dramatically stony while taking it from Shuichi, and the latter nearly laughed.

“Why are you being so serio- Kokichi hey, that’s been in my mouth you probably shouldn’t-”

Kokichi made a grand gesture of wiping it off on his jeans. Shuichi wrinkled his nose and the purplenette looked at him indignantly before a slow smirk split his face in half.

“Honey, you need to breathe. A little bit of your spit is  _ nothing _ compared t-”

Shuichi slapped a hand over Kokichi’s mouth and pulled the purplenette tight to his chest, looking around with panicked eyes.

Kokichi’s muffled laughter came from against Shuichi’s sweater, “Goodness forbid the people who definitely cannot hear us know that we, two consenting adults in a relationship, have had s-”

Shuichi cleared his throat, “Hey, where’s the other one? The other ring, I mean.” Kokichi rolled his eyes when Shuichi released him, but pulled a box out of his coat pocket anyway.

“Here, let me put yours on first. Don’t complain about spit,” Kokichi pouted. Shuichi crossed his heart dramatically, and Kokichi snatched his hand.

Shuichi took the box from Kokichi and put the other ring on Kokichi’s hand.

“They’re very pretty, I like the design,” Shuichi said quietly. He wasn’t sure why he was being quiet, it just seemed natural. Kokichi gave a tiny shrug before answering.

“They have little fish on them. I thought they were cute.”

Shuichi decided not to mention the subtle jab at Shuichi’s abnormal penchant for fish in lieu of kissing the top of Kokichi’s head. Kokichi leaned into the touch before clapping his hands together like a P.E. teacher.

“Alright- ow, that hurt with the ring on-  _ Alright _ , I think we’re done with coffee now, let’s go home, and you can tell me about that case you wanted to while we’re walking home. Yes?”

Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows and smiled, “Uh, okay? That works, I just thought we were on a date.”

Kokichi huffed, “We  _ were- _ well, we still are until we get home, but now it’s time to go home and make out. Get with the program, babe.”

Shuichi turned firetruck red and spluttered, calming down a little when Kokichi laughed.

“I’m kidding, wow, chill out.”

(Although, Shuichi could have sworn he heard Kokichi mumble something that sounded suspiciously like ‘not’ under his breath. Seriously, he was dating a  _ child _ .)

Nevertheless, Shuichi Saihara was not one to give up the opportunity to discuss a case with Kokichi Ouma. Who was way more insightful than he came off, Shuichi had learned.

“Alright, so I’ve been doing research on seances, because the murder occurred under the context of one- I think it was called the ‘The Caged Child’? Anyway, the victim was a 18 year old girl who was renowned for martial arts…”

Kokichi quietly slipped his hand into Shuichi’s while the detective spoke animatedly. The soft breeze from the coffee machines tousled Shuichi’s senses and wove peace in between him and the barista.

Shuichi Saihara wouldn’t consider himself the type of person who lives for a schedule, yet if you were to ask the owner of Tojo’s Coffee, Kirumi Tojo, she would tell you that Shuichi is always at her coffee shop by 9am sharp. However, what she might  _ also _ say is that Shuichi no longer comes to the coffee shop for the sake of comfort in atmosphere, but rather comfort in what he has found: culprit and companion alike. Connections he has made, if you will. 

The chill of the late December air was juxtaposed with the soft warmth of the sun steadily shining in the sky. Shuichi placed a hand on his baseball cap and squeezed Kokichi’s hand a little more as they exited the clean glass door. The wall of heated air that smelled like coffee beans and sugar dissipated behind him as he took a deep breath and turned a chin up to the world, with one Kokichi Ouma, and a never ending train of thought. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy smokes, i wrote a 44k word fic. and finished it! i'm so incredibly thankful for your guys' support, and i intend to continue writing in the future. i'm a little sad (i always get sad when i finish multi chapter fics let's be real, but this seems a little different because i wrote it this time) i just wanna communicate how grateful i am for everyone who even just reads my fics :)  
> also, i hope y'all got the title reference. pisces. the promise rings. the intertwined fish. y'know. cute shii.  
> also^2, i know i'm awful at responding to comments, but i'm really going to try and go through later today and do so. thank you for reading, i hope to see you soon <3  
> -plaid


End file.
